LJ and the Monster of Lucky Duck Lake
by PerkyGoth14
Summary: Valentine's Day is approaching and LJ decides to visit his pen pal, Mosquito "Skeeter" Valentine in his home of Bluffington which is also coincidentally where Elyse Moltenscar, a former student of Wayside School, will be attending school from now on. While there, they visit Lucky Duck Lake which holds a mysterious and horrifying monster of a secret. Read ahead if you dare...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Happy Valentine's Day from PerkyGoth14 and the artist formerly known as Scrappy Doo Fan.**

* * *

"Hey, guys," LJ told everyone in the group. "Zo and I are taking Elyse on a trip to Bluffington to show her the school she'll be going to, but we might find some more big adventure there. You guys in or what? ...And yes, Lee, you _can_ come."

"Heh, sounds good to me," Lee replied. "Thanks, buddy."

"No problem," LJ replied. "We'll meet up outside Dad's RV once everyone is all ready to go."

"Sounds good," Akito said. "We'll try not to take too long."

"Great," LJ replied. "Now to get those Ed guys ready in the meantime... Soon as I get dressed."

The groups then split up to get ready to go on their big trip.

"Come on, Lee," Estelle smiled. "I hear there's a dance coming up."

"Well, hopefully we can go together." Lee smiled back.

"Yeah, it's gonna be so much fun!" Estelle replied.

Lee smiled to her as they walked off.

"Looks like we're good," Zofia said to LJ while taking her coat out of the closet. "Better bundle up though, there's some snow around."

"Naturally." LJ replied as he got his coat, snow pants and boots.

"I know you're not into fashion, but do you think blue or purple?" Zofia asked, holding up her differently colored winter coats.

LJ did some brief thinking. "Hm... Go with blue." he replied.

Zofia looked between them and then went with the blue coat as it was her favorite. "Do you think you'll go to the school dance if we stay long enough for that?" she then asked her brother. "I know you don't like too much noise, but... It might be fun."

"Well... I'll give it a shot," replied LJ. "We'll see where things go from there."

"I just thought I would ask," Zofia said. "Also, hopefully this goes better than Wayside School even though we saved it from tumbling over before Elyse left for good."

"Even though we weren't really there for that last bit, since Todd snuck back inside." replied LJ.

"Well, they should've given him a medal or something!" Zofia replied. "They all could've died!"

"Yeah," LJ nodded. "Instead, he's stuck _there_ for all his troubles!"

"We should help him..." Zofia said before zipping up her backpack after putting her personal items inside. "But... Maybe later. A new adventure calls."

"That it does, Sis," LJ replied. "To Peach Creek, and then to the RV!"

* * *

They soon came to go downstairs to get ready for the big trip. Getting on their hats, the two kids then headed out the door.

"Pretty sure that Elyse kid is so excited that she's rushing her parents right now." Two-Tone smirked to Furrball.

"She's probably over the moon with delight." Furrball nodded.

Zofia smiled, petting the cat and Dalmatian as she went to the door with her brother. And so, they ventured off to Peach Creek to retrieve the Eds.

* * *

"But I'm telling you guys, I really saw them!" Sarah told the other kids.

"Sarah..." Nazz seemed to roll her eyes while painting her nails on the sidewalk.

"It's true!" Sarah told her. "My idiot brother and his friends turned into giant frogs!"

"Those dorks?" asked Kevin. "Yeah, like _that_ would ever happen."

"**I'M TELLING YOU THAT I SAW IT!**" Sarah snapped.

"I'm sure you did, Sarah..." Nazz shrugged. "And I'm sure the My Little Ponies escaped from Rainbow Island too with the Care Bears or whatever."

Sarah growled in frustration.

"Say whatever ya like, craze-o!" replied Jonny. "Plank and I are gonna build a snow fort!"

LJ and Zofia chuckled to themselves as they walked down the street.

"Feeling okay, Sarah?" Jimmy asked his best friend.

"Jimmy, I know what I saw, and I gotta show 'em!" Sarah glared.

Zofia picked up some snow, made a ball out of it, and threw it at her head.

"D'oh!" Sarah grunted before seething as her eyes narrowed all around. "WHO THREW THAT?!"

LJ snickered. "Good shot, Sis!" he remarked. "Maybe a little cold oughta clear her head!"

"That's what I thought." Zofia smirked to him.

Sarah growled at them. "My parents can make your parents lose their jobs, you know!"

"Yeah, you're gonna make a lot of people mad about that considering our mother's one of the greatest authors of all time next to Ben Ravencroft." Zofia replied.

"Yeah, so shut up, you screwy little brat, before I do worse!" LJ replied. "Four out of five kids might not be able to deal with you, BUT I'M THE FIFTH!"

"I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" Sarah glared.

"Yeah, you do that," Zofia said. "We gotta get going."

"NYAH-NYAH!" LJ retorted, making a goofy face. "Come at me, Pipsqueak! I'll knock you flying!"

Sarah yelled out and soon ran after them, chasing them down the block.

"Ooh, she's a bit fast for a little one." Zofia had to admit.

LJ quickly leapt over her head and caught her with one hand. "Yeah. Fast _and _stupid!" he remarked, swinging her over his head and tossing her into a dumpster. "I might not dig sports, but that was a slam-dunk!"

Sarah yelled out from her misfortune.

"Okay, uh, as we were..." Zofia said, taking out a checklist of their friends to bring along for their new adventure.

"Right!" LJ nodded as they went to Ed's house.

* * *

Ed was watching some cartoons in the living room with a bowl of his favorite cereal known as Chunky Puffs, watching some cartoons until his friends would come over.

"Yes...?" A blonde woman answered the door after the doorbell rang.

"Hello, Mrs... Uh... Ed's mom..." Zofia said to her. "Could we please see Ed?"

"Oh... Alright..." Mrs. Monoboroster replied before calling out. "EDWARD! YOU HAVE COMPANY!"

"COMING, MOM!" Ed replied before his footsteps were heard approaching the door. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?" he asked.

"Adventure!" LJ and Zofia beamed.

"Uh... Okay?" Ed replied. "Wanna be more specific?"

"We're heading out to take our new friend to her new school." Zofia explained.

"And we're gonna pick up Eddy and Double D while we're at it." LJ replied. "Wanna come with?"

Ed smirked. "Sure, but first we gotta stop by the junkyard," he replied. "C'mon."

"Hmm... All right, let's go then." Zofia said.

They then walked off together to go to the junkyard.

* * *

Princess Angelica was in her human girl disguise which had short blonde hair in a blue T-Shirt, white shorts, and gray sneakers, but she had to change it up a bit since it was now winter time.

"Here you are, Your Highness, this should keep you warm in the cul-de-sac during the snow and leaf season." Professor T. Bird smiled, holding out a pink coat with some white fuzz on it with gloves and boots to go with it.

"Ooh! It's cute!" Princess Angelica beamed as she began to wear it to keep warm. "Mm... Toasty."

"Hey, Professor!" Ed called. "Princess! I'm here, and I got the legendary warrior teachers!"

The two soon came over to see their company.

"Hey! It's an actual Bird Person!" Zofia beamed.

"So you're the mighty warriors?" asked the professor. "Well... I am Professor Thelonius Byrd, but I go by Professor Byrd for short. And this is my young charge: Princess Angelica of Teranus!"

"Heh... I don't know about Mighty Warriors, but it's good to meet you," Zofia replied. "I'm Zofia Schwartz, and this is my brother, Lionel Schwartz Jr, or LJ for short."

"Morning!" LJ replied. "Let's go find Double D and Eddy."

"A perfect opportunity to test my modifications!" Professor exclaimed, activating the van, whose tires seemed to shift sideways and function as hoverjets.

"Ooohh!" LJ and Zofia said in amazement.

"We're driving in style now!" Princess Angelica giggled. "I learned that from Eddy."

"Okay!" Ed exclaimed, pulling the others inside. "Now to grab the others!"

Princess Angelica beamed.

"Just hang tight, kids, and I'll have us there in no time!" Professor told them before driving off. "Where we're going, we don't need tires."

"Just like in _Back to the Future_!" LJ exclaimed as they took off for Eddy's place.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that point, the other kids had gathered at Lionel's RV. Cherry seemed to be staring at her laptop screen.

"You about ready to go?" Lionel asked Cherry.

"Yeah, I guess..." Cherry said. "I'm in a bit of a slump though... Writer's Block is a disease."

"Don't worry," Lionel replied. "Perhaps this trip will give you what you need: INSPIRATION!"

"I guess we'll see," Cherry said, shutting down her laptop and when the screen went black, she then shut the top together and carried it in her arm, heading out the door. "Let's hit the Holiday Road."

"Can do, co-pilot!" Lionel replied, before seeing the others outside. "Oh, jeez... Sorry for keeping you waiting, kids. I should let you inside so you can warm up!"

The group nodded and shivered since it was cold outside right now. Lionel unlocked the door and unlocked all the other doors, turning on the warm air for them and they all rushed inside to warm up.

At that point, the Ed-van showed up, flying towards the ground, as LJ waved to the group. "GANGWAY, EVERYONE!" he shouted.

"I think we have more company." Cherry blinked.

"We're ready to go!" LJ replied. "Professor, you can follow behind in the Van. Eds, Princess, GIT ON IN HE-YAH!"

The Eds soon came out with Princess Angelica.

"Mm... Fuzzy." Cherry said about Princess Angelica's coat.

"It's very cozy." Princess Angelica smiled.

"Guys!" LJ announced. "You know the Eds. This is their new friend, Angelica."

"Angelica?" The others asked, thinking of someone else they knew who shared that name.

"Ah, don't worry, she's nice." Zofia told them.

"I am," Angelica smiled to the group. "It's so nice to meet you all."

"Hm... You seem cool enough, I guess." Gaz replied.

"As do you." Vincent replied.

"Buckle yourselves up," announced Lionel. "Next stop, Bluffington!"

The kids soon buckled up, though Eddy buckled up Angelica.

"Oh, Eddy, you're so charming." Angelica smiled to the boy.

Eddy blushed at that, but kept his cool. "Hey, you know me: I eat, sleep and breathe charm!" he replied.

Double D seemed to roll his eyes a bit while the young princess just giggled to Eddy. As they soon rode off in the RV, someone appeared to be watching them, taking a closer look to Chrissy.

* * *

"You'll pay for abandoning me, Chrissy... Trust me... You'll see that it's way better with me around... No matter what happens..." The voice said, sounding both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. "Especially when you want that boy LJ all to yourself. Why should you share him with that annoying Kimberly girl who hangs around cats all day?!"

* * *

LJ felt a small twitch in the back of his head, though he ignored it.

"I do hope you're careful, Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz," Double D said. "Driving in the snow can be dangerous."

"Don't worry, kid, we do this all the time." Cherry reassured.

"Yeah!" Lionel replied. "This baby is built to resist everything nature throws at it, and a few things outer space throws at it, too!"

"Clever," Angelica smiled to that. "I look forward to this trip."

"Yeah, you and everyone else here!" Lee (Clark) replied.

"Thanks for letting Lee come," Estelle beamed to LJ. "I couldn't go to a new place that has a dance coming up without him."

"We're givers." Zofia chuckled.

"What can we say?" shrugged LJ. "Sometimes it just ain't an adventure unless you got ALL your pals with ya!"

"Oh, I can vouch for that," Akito smiled before glaring. "Any bullies though better stay away."

"I do remember Brother mentioning someone named Roger Klotz in some of his letters from Skeeter." Zofia replied.

"Yeah," LJ replied. "From what I read, he was a real rotten egg. A total jerk, even. And through some crazy stroke of luck, he somehow ended up getting rich! Where's karma when you need it? Not to mention, he's STILL a jerk!"

"I think he needs a bit of a Cartman Land experience if you know what I mean." Cherry mumbled slightly.

"You mean losing his money through some sort of zany plot?" replied Lionel. "Clever~"

"Oh, yeah." Cherry smirked.

Lionel snickered as he kept on driving, as the rather warm windshield melted off the snowflakes that kept on sticking to it.

* * *

Luckily it wouldn't be too long of a ride as they soon made it into Bluffington and everyone peeked out and the people of this town were rather colorful, if you know what I mean.

"Looks like this is the place." Lee guessed.

"You were right," Eddy remarked. "It _does_ look like a box of crayons puked all over the people here!"

"Vivid imagery..." Double D muttered from what Eddy said.

"Looks pretty cool to me." Ed chuckled as he took a look with them out the windows.

"Gotta say, pretty cool to look at," LJ nodded. "Like a mural you'd see on a poster!"

"Are we staying in one of those fancy Five Star Hotels?" Chrissy asked Lionel, leaning over a bit.

"Well... Sure," Lionel replied. "I'll take care of it, like during my Spring Break adventure with the cast of Tiny Toon Adventures!"

"Uh... You do that." Chrissy replied.

"That place needed a makeover..." Cherry rolled her eyes from the hotel they nearly stayed in with the Tiny Toons around then.

"For sure." Lionel replied.

"Hmm... Well, I hope we can stay in someplace decent." Chrissy said.

"Girls and boys will be separated." Cherry replied.

"Aww!" Kimberly pouted.

LJ shrugged. "Such is life," he replied. "Some things are just worth waiting for."

"Sorry, kids, but we just think it would be easier that way," Cherry told them. "But don't worry, you can always visit each other before it's time to go to bed."

"Works for me!" Zofia replied.

A couple of boys were shown to be riding on their bikes.

"LJ, dear, I think I see one of your friends." Cherry said, seeing one of the boys.

LJ glanced out the window. "Oh, that must be Skeeter!" he remarked. "Maybe we oughta pull over and say hi!"

"Stop the car!" Cherry then said.

Lionel nodded and soon stopped the RV suddenly.

"Ooh!" Angelica blinked. "Hmm... I guess now would be a good time to explore this new dwelling."

"That's the idea," LJ nodded as he climbed out. "Time to take in the new scenery!"

The doors soon opened up as the young group jumped out onto the snow after Cherry and Lionel parked nearby.


	2. Chapter 2

"So... This is Bluffington..." Elyse said as she walked out, taking a closer look. "It sure is something."

"Yeah," LJ replied. "And I can hardly wait to soak it all in!"

"Hey, Doug, check it out!" said the blue-green kid on his bike. "Guess we've got new people here!"

"New people?" The pale kid added curiously before seeing them.

They soon saw the small group who had come out of the RV together.

"Looks like a whole band of new kids, huh, Skeeter?" The pale kid chuckled to his best friend sheepishly.

"That's what _I_ said! Honk-Honk!" Skeeter replied.

The group soon walked off for a bit before LJ stopped.

"That's him!" LJ announced to the others. "That's Skeeter Valentine!"

"Kinda blue, isn't he?" Elyse commented.

"I'd say he's a little greenish-blue, but whatever works for you," shrugged LJ. "Hey, Skeeter! What's up?"

"Hey, buddy!" Skeeter smiled, coming up to LJ. "You bring your whole family along or something?"

"Well, my parents, sister, some cousins, and friends!" LJ explained.

"That's a lot to keep up with." Skeeter chuckled.

"Man, and I thought my house was full." Doug commented as he came to meet the group.

"So, you're Doug Funnie, right?" asked LJ. "LJ Schwartz, nice to meet'cha!" he shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too," Doug replied, shaking hands back. "Ya know, I used to be new in town too."

"I think Skeeter mentioned that." Zofia gave a small smile.

"Well, small world then. This... Is Elyse," introduced LJ. "She's gonna be attending school in this town now!"

"So, you're the new kid, huh?" Doug asked Elise.

"Yep!" Elyse replied. "I really needed to get out of my old school. It was crazy."

"Well, lots of schools are crazy." Doug replied.

"Oh-ho, not like this one!" Elyse told him. "Trust me, it was just insanity worse than you can possibly imagine!"

"She's not lying. We went with her as well," LJ nodded. "It was like being a character in Alice in Wonderland... And **EVERYONE ELSE IS WONDERLAND!**"

Elyse nodded back from that as it felt very painfully accurate.

"Ooh... I guess that _is_ kinda rough," Doug replied. "Well, let's hope that Bluffington Middle School's a better change of pace."

"I have a feeling that it will be." LJ remarked.

"So, uh, what do you guys do for fun around here?" Kimberly asked.

"Well, we hang out at the local ice-cream place, Mr. Swirly's," explained Skeeter. "And sometimes we go down to the Bluffington Mall, or to the Park, and... Just this morning, we were in the woods near Lucky Duck Lake, on account of the fact there's a monster living in it!"

"Oh, that sounds like a lot of-" Akito said. "Uh, wait, did you say monster?"

"Yeah!" Skeeter nodded. "Doug and I are gonna get a picture of it, and then we'll be famous!"

"Whoa... Sounds like an adventure!" LJ exclaimed.

"Ah, my favorite word." Akito smiled.

"This is gonna be great; I just know it!" Skeeter beamed.

"Hey, same here!" LJ replied.

"A lake monster... I feel like I need to see that to believe it, boys." Elyse said.

"Help yourself." Skeeter smiled to her.

"Alright... To Lucky Duck Lake we go!" announced Lee.

"Great! Follow us!" Doug replied.

"Um, Mother, Father, we're going with Doug and Skeeter," Zofia spoke up. "See you later on?"

"Of course, dear," Cherry replied. "Have fun."

"Looks like that's a yes!" LJ exclaimed. "Now...onward to adventure!"

* * *

And so, the kids headed off, unaware of a certain small, familiar presence that was now closely following them. Cherry and Lionel went to explore the town as the kids went to the lake with the two boys on their bikes. All the while, the new kids in town were exploring and looking around on their own, Kimberly taking pictures on her camera.

"145 hours, 38 minutes..." counted Doug as the group pushed their bikes towards the pier.

"You're not counting down to that Valentine's Dance again, are ya, man?" asked Skeeter.

"No!" denied Doug. "...Yes."

"I think that's a definite yes." Kimberly giggled.

Doug pouted to her while blushing.

"Hey! Are you doofuses still hunting for that 'lake monster'?" A sickly green boy called out with a smirk.

"Yes!" Doug glared before mumbling to himself. "Except for the part about being doofuses."

"When Doug and I get our monster picture, Roger, you'll see!" Skeeter retorted to the bully.

"Hey, I know where you can find a whole bunch of monster pictures!" Roger smirked.

"Huh?" Doug and Skeeter blinked.

"Your family album!" Roger then laughed.

Roger's friends then laughed, but one of them looked confused from the joke.

"Go ahead and laugh, Roger, we're gonna find that monster!" Skeeter glared.

And so the kids headed off into the woods.

"Sooner than you think." smirked Roger, and he and his friends laughed.

"Uh, what are we all nudging each other for?" asked the green-haired kid.

"You're pushin' my buttons, Bledsoe," warned Roger, as he got up. "Let's get going! Move it, move it!"

The group of bullies soon walked off from the docks as a bubble in the water seemed to pop out.

* * *

"I wonder if I need some new shoes?" Doug commented.

"Yeah, something fast, in case we get chased by that monster." Skeeter agreed with his best friend.

"No, for the dance." Doug explained.

"I think you'll find something eventually," Chrissy shrugged. "I know I need new shoes for hiking out here with you guys."

"No worries," LJ replied, patting his backpack. "I think I've got you covered!"

Skeeter rolled his eyes before he looked down and saw a bunch of branches blocking the way. "Maybe we should leave the bikes here." he suggested.

And so, the two boys left their bikes near the branches as they headed further into the woods with their new friends.

"I guess I could wear _these_ ones," said Doug. "I don't wanna look too 'Hey, I'm wearing new shoes~!' Or maybe-"

But he was cut off by a sound echoing through the trees.

"Uh... Hello." Kimberly blinked from the echoing.

"You guys hear that?" Skeeter asked.

"Yep, looks like it's time to split up." Elise suggested.

"Yeah, I'll go this way, you go that way." Doug agreed.

"Alright, Angelica, Double D, Ed, yours truly, and Vincent will go with Skeeter," explained Eddy. "The rest of you guys'll go with Doug!"

"Sounds like a plan." shrugged LJ.

"All right, let's do this then." Zofia replied.

They all then split up.

"So, you don't look as strong as your brother." Eddy said to Vincent.

"Akito's more muscles than I am, actually," Vincent replied. "He gets that from Dad."

Eddy shrugged. "Ah, well." he replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, Doug and the others were heading down their trail, until they heard people talking. They glanced into a bush and saw that Roger and his friends were putting on a homemade monster suit.

"Dude's gotta keep his chi flowing, man." said one voice.

"Exactly," came Roger's voice. "You wanna stay healthy? You gotta keep in balance with nature! Now let's go scare the hoo-ha out of blue-boy!"

And as they started walking, they ran into Doug, LJ, and the others.

"Hold it, 'monster'," remarked Doug, as the group came to a halt. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Oh, yeah?" asked Roger. "Who's gonna _stop_ us, Funnie?"

"Uh..." said Doug, nervously. He hadn't prepared an answer for this part.

"Well, he has us!" Elyse soon glared, coming up beside Doug with her new friends.

The others soon posed, trying to look like brave heroes, even though it wouldn't really scare off Roger. Roger rolled his eyes, unimpressed, and soon ambushed against the group who was with Doug.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Akito snapped.

"Buzz off, you pointy-nosed creep!" LJ yelled.

Akito soon grabbed Roger and threw him aside like a toy.

"What the heck?!" Roger glared slightly. "How'd you do that?"

"You'll be facing the wrath of Hercules if you don't back off," Akito glared back. "Who're you, some knock-off from The Gangrene Gang?"

"I heard about how you like to pick on Doug," remarked LJ. "Well, how about picking on somebody who can actually fight _back_?!"

"Ah, forget it... These chumps are just a waste of time!" said Roger. "Grab the suit and let's go! At least we got Funnie but GOOD!"

And so, Roger and his goons grabbed their monster costume and raced away.

Akito crossed his arms with a glare before looking up to Doug. "You okay, man?" he then asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure as long as you don't do to me what you just did to Roger." Doug replied nervously.

"Relax, buddy," LJ replied. "We only do that to people who mess with our friends, and apparently you fit the bill!"

"Oh... Well, thanks," replied Doug. "But... Could you guys help me get my clothes out of the trees?"

"Oh, sure!" LJ replied as he shimmied up the trees and plucked the articles of clothing off like fruit.

"How'd you get so strong?" Doug asked Akito.

"Genetics and my own exercise," Akito smiled, flexing his arms a bit. "It's a bit of a long story."

"You seem like you could be a superhero like Quail-Man." Doug commented.

"I don't know who Quail-Man is, but I like the superhero part." Akito smiled.

"We can talk it over on the way back to town." replied LJ, as he climbed back down from the tree.

* * *

Meanwhile, Skeeter and the others were still walking. "Hmm... Never been here before," remarked Skeeter, pulling a few of the branches aside, revealing an abandoned lake, which had a toxic sewage pipe flowing into it. "What a mess..." he remarked.

Suddenly, it seemed as though something appeared in the water.

"Oh, man!" exclaimed Skeeter, searching his pockets. "Camera, camera... Where is it...?!" until finally, he pulled it out and got ready to start snapping photos.

There was then a sound heard right behind them.

"Yaugh! Get back if ya know what's good for ya!" Eddy glared as he struck a heroic pose.

Roger soon came out, snarling with his friends in their monster costume. Skeeter soon looked behind him in surprise, snapping a picture and the flash went right into Roger's eyes.

"Oh, my eyes!" Roger cried out, revealing himself.

Skeeter glared, seeing the bullies as they failed to scare him. "Very funny you guys, hardy har, oh, very believable too, did you rent it or did you make it yourself?"

Roger and the other bullies soon saw something coming up right behind Skeeter which scared them a bit.

"Well, you had your fun, now you can go home," Skeeter told them before they seemed to freeze up. "Roger?"

"Monster..." Roger whispered in terror.

"There's something bad behind us, isn't there?" Skeeter then asked.

Roger and his cronies ran off, as Skeeter dropped his camera, which fell on its topside and went off. Skeeter yelped out as the monster came closer. Estelle yelled out as she felt a bit scared herself.

* * *

Akito seemed triggered from his twin sister's screaming. "Estelle!"

"Yowch!" LJ exclaimed. "What are you guys yelling about? We didn't even _find_ anything!"

Zofia tried to comfort her brother and looked over.

"Something's going on..." Akito said in a knowing tone. "I don't know what, but I sense a great disturbance in this town."

"Well, at least it's not boring," Elyse replied. "And Estelle, stop screaming. All we saw was Roger and his cronies, and those clowns couldn't scare the stripes off a skunk!"

"But something is wrong!" Estelle told her.

"Then scream when we _see_ it," explained Elyse. "Doesn't that make a _little_ more sense than screaming when you _don't_ see something?"

"I can't fight my instincts, Elyse!" Estelle told her. "I know something is out there, and I think that maybe someone else saw it!"

"So if anybody should be screaming, it should be the ones who saw that something!" Elyse explained. "So let's go find them!"

"Something is out there, I just know it..." Estelle shuddered.

"It'll be okay, just calm down, I'm sure it's nothing." Kimberly told her.

"Yeah, relax!" LJ replied. "We got your back!"

Estelle looked around as they continued for a bit.

"Hmm... Now what?" Kimberly pondered a bit.

"Might as well head back to town," replied Akito. "Hopefully Skeeter and the others will meet up with us there."

"Let's go then, I'm feeling funny in my tummy." Estelle said.

"That's probably stress or worry," Akito replied. "I think you get that from Mom."

And so, the kids headed back to Bluffington.

"Well, I don't wanna judge anything already, but I'm not sure about this town just yet." Elyse said.

"Give it some time, you'll adapt." Akito replied.

* * *

Eventually, the groups reunited, and Doug and Skeeter headed home, while Lionel had converted the RV into a temporary house for the time being.

"This seems like a nice, quiet neighborhood." Cherry commented.

"Yep," Lionel agreed. "Hey kids, how were things today?"

"Well, we went on a monster hunt," LJ replied. "Our group didn't see anything, but Skeeter's group saw something, but we dunno what. We're gonna look around tomorrow and see if we can find it again!"

"Monster Hunt, huh?" Cherry smirked. "You see Mike and Sulley?"

"Mother, we're serious." Zofia replied.

"So am I." Cherry quipped just to be funny.

"Not _that_ kinda monster," replied LJ. "Apparently, there's some kinda creature lurking around Lucky Duck Lake... Which says a lot, since it's been uninhabited for _years_."

"Hmm... Interesting..." Cherry said. "You're sure about this?" she then asked to make sure, knowing he or Zofia would never lie to her or Lionel.

"Sure as sure can be!" LJ replied. "It might actually be real, not a fake like the Gobblewonker!"

"Heh... Gobblewonker... Good times..." Cherry chuckled weakly. "That had to be the craziest summer of my life."

Lionel nodded. "Eh, there were crazier," he replied. "Anyways, you're all gonna hafta get ready for bed. You'll be going with Elyse tomorrow when she sees her new school."

"Aww!" The kids pouted about going to bed.

"I know it seems early, but it's best to get some sleep now than wake up all tired and groggy." Cherry advised.

The kids sighed as they each waited to take showers, then got their pajamas on, and brushed their teeth.

"I think I need to go to bed early myself," Cherry said, yawning a bit. "Mm... What is it about snow that makes me want to hibernate?"

"Dunno," Lionel shrugged. "But if it gives me more time being close to ya, then I'm not gonna complain!"

"I'll meet you in bed, I'm gonna go wash up." Cherry said as she walked off briefly.

"Okay!" Lionel replied as he got himself dressed in his pajamas.

"So, uh, do you guys think there might be an actual monster out there?" Estelle asked, a little edgy.

"Maybe," replied LJ, scribbling something in his journal. "And if it exists... I'm gonna find it!"

"All right... Good night." Estelle said.

"Night." LJ nodded.

Estelle then went to go with the other girls to get some rest herself. "Maybe I'm worrying over nothing... Maybe I've been working too hard in W.O.O.H.P..." she then muttered the last part, a bit tiredly and softly.

* * *

As LJ flopped into his bed, he suddenly heard the window of his room creaking open, and a small, pinkish shape slunk in before re-closing it.

"Hm...?" he asked, sitting up. "Who's there?"

No one answered at first.

LJ narrowed his eyes. "Come on out!"

The mysterious figure ran through the floor, creeping almost like a spider.

LJ quickly leapt to block the mysterious figure, keeping them from getting out the door. "Alright... Time for some explanations. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Hey, easy, I won't hurt ya as long as ya listen to me." The voice replied, sounding familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

"Alright," LJ replied. "You have the floor, and my undivided attention."

"Hello there, LJ." The voice said, stepping into the light, revealing to be Chrissy's old imaginary friend: Berry.

"Who are you?" asked LJ. "And what are you doing here?"

"My name is Berry, and I just wanna talk to you." The imaginary friend smirked.

"Alright... _Berry_." LJ replied.

"So," Berry said before hopping up and sitting beside him on the bed. "I see you're pretty close with Chrissy Damon."

"Yep," LJ nodded. "She's a great person."

"I'm glad that you think so," Berry smirked. "You think you might get married?"

"Heh, whoooa, that's a long way away." LJ told her.

"You're right... But you two are perfect for each other." Berry then said innocently.

"I guess you got a point." LJ replied.

"Of course I do," Berry said. "And what with Valentine's Day coming up."

"Yeah," LJ replied. "I got huge plans for my two favorite girls on that day!"

"Two favorite girls you say?" Berry replied.

"Yeah, Chrissy and Kimberly," LJ replied. "The two of 'em mean a whole lot to me. You ever had someone who you've really liked?"

"Oh, yes... I have... Trust me..." Berry replied as she thought about a certain someone. "But this isn't about me. It's about you and Chrissy."

"Okay," LJ replied. "Care to elaborate on this?"

"You shall soon see..." Berry told him. "Chrissy is perfect for you. She's your golden-haired angel."

"Ohhh..." LJ replied. "Well, okay."

"Don't worry... It'll be worth your while... I promise..." Berry grinned darkly.

LJ blinked and nodded. "Right... Got it." he replied.

Berry smirked a bit.

* * *

Meanwhile, someone else was settling into the town who was a bit of a dark and wicked woman. "So far the fools suspect nothing..." she smirked devilishly as she changed into the form of a human female around the age of 26, clad in a dark-purple coat. "From now on, call me 'Ms. Deborah Sullivan'..." she then chuckled before cackling a bit maliciously with a lightning strike behind her to closed caption her evil. And while her evil enforcers would be infiltrating the police department, she would infiltrate the school. And the citizens would be none the wiser...

* * *

The kids were all fast asleep, though Angelica seemed to have a bad feeling. Berry soon tiptoed into Chrissy's room with a portable CD player and a pair of earphones. Chrissy was fast asleep, more so than the others as she believed she needed her beauty sleep. Berry chuckled quietly to herself as she began to slide the earphones over her ears and played a CD that contained subliminal messages. Chrissy continued sleeping, unaware of the subliminal messaging convincing her to be even more in love with LJ (bordering on Amy Rose levels) and jealous of Kimberly, imprinting itself onto her subconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Eventually, the next morning came, and an alarm clock gently buzzed throughout the room. Zofia tossed her pillow onto it before yawning, sitting up, and checked on the other girls, especially with how Chrissy hated her beauty sleep to be disturbed. From what she could see, the others had been sleeping soundly all night.

"All right, guys, time to get up." Zofia told them with a yawn.

The others soon slowly came out of bed themselves, though Chrissy took a bit longer than the others.

"Chrissy?" asked Zofia. "We gotta wake up and get ready. C'mon."

Chrissy looked over and soon came out of bed next.

"I had that dream about _The Last Unicorn_ again." Kimberly said.

"Ah, Kim, it'll be alright." Zofia said, knowing how emotional that movie made Kimberly feel.

Kimberly smiled at Zofia. "Thanks." she replied.

"What're friends for?" Zofia smiled back as she went to the bathroom real quick to comb out and straighten out her hair since it was usually a mess in the morning.

* * *

LJ and the other boys took a while to wake up, but they eventually got up and went to brush their teeth. Akito soon used super-speed to change into his day clothes and out of his pajamas.

"Heh, you ever think of using that for money sometime?" Eddy smirked.

"I'm not going to be apart of one of your scams," Akito rolled his eyes. "I know all about that biz with you, McGee."

Eddy shrugged. "Hey, guy's gotta make some money _somehow_!" he replied.

"Oh, brother..." Akito rolled his eyes.

"Can't help it, it's in my nature." Eddy told him.

"How do your parents feel about you scamming other kids?" Akito asked.

"It's no point," Double D told Akito. "He never listens. Just look at the Cartoonverse."

"Okay." Akito replied.

"Hey, I gotta earn money SOMEHOW!" Eddy replied. "And doing house chores doesn't cut it! I gotta rake in the big bucks so I can prove I'm somebody awesome! Somebody legendary!"

"He's repressing something, isn't he?" Akito guessed.

Eddy glanced to Akito from that while Double D shrugged.

"I haven't the foggiest, but perhaps." Double D said.

Eddy scoffed. "Y-Yeah, right! I'm not repressing anything!" he denied. "Can't a guy just wanna make a living?"

"Meh." Akito shrugged.

Cherry and Lionel both ordered some breakfast food from the hotel menu before the kids would go off to Elyse's new school.

* * *

Soon enough, the kids came to eat their breakfast.

"I hope that's enough food to go around." Cherry said to them as she gave herself a glass of apple juice.

"Don't worry, Mom, it's plenty!" LJ replied. "Morning, everyone!"

Everyone else let out their own good morning greeting to LJ.

"Where's Chrissy?" LJ then asked.

"Probably putting on make-up." Angelica suggested.

"Sounds about right," Ed rolled his eyes. "Sometimes my sister does that just to impress Double D."

"Guh. Don't remind me." Double D grimaced about Sarah's crush on him.

"I should go up and make sure she's ready," replied LJ. "Wouldn't be fair if she missed breakfast."

"Good luck with that." Eddy replied.

"Thanks." LJ rolled his eyes before he soon went to go see Chrissy.

* * *

Chrissy appeared to have a lot on her mind as she began to powder her face.

LJ approached the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Chrissy? It's LJ. We already started having breakfast, so I figured I'd let you know; that way, you don't end up missing out... 'Cuz breakfast _is _the most important meal of the day, y'know." he said.

"Oh, uh, I'll be there in a minute, don't you worry, I'm almost done." Chrissy smiled innocently.

"Great!" LJ replied.

Chrissy soon sprayed her hair a bit and soon came to join the others.

"That girl..." Cherry sighed a bit. "Oh, well, at least she makes LJ happy."

"Also, good morning." LJ told Chrissy as she exited the restroom.

"Morning," Chrissy nodded. "Ooh, so much food."

"We wanted to accommodate you all for breakfast." Lionel smiled.

"So they made a LOT!" LJ added as he began on his plate.

Chrissy soon came to join the others to breakfast, giving a glance to Kimberly.

"Good morning, Chrissy," Kimberly smiled. "You look very nice this morning."

"Oh... Thanks, Kimberly," Chrissy replied as she sat down. "You look... Okay."

Kimberly glanced from that before she tucked into her scrambled eggs. And so, everyone ate before they went to brush their teeth and get dressed.

"Well, this is it..." Elyse took a deep breath. "A new school with new people in a new place."

"Don't worry, El," LJ assured her. "We've got your back."

"This is just such a weird feeling... My stomach's in knots, my heart's beating fast, and I can't breathe... Also, my palms are sweaty." Elyse said.

"Oh, that's perfectly normal," Zofia replied. "Just don't get cold feet."

"I'll try," Elyse said before some magic seemed to turn her feet into giant ice cubes. "Uh-oh!"

"Yeah, we might need to work on that," replied LJ. "But we'll do it as we go along."

"Why does that look familiar?" Cherry commented as she came by, looking at Elyse feet.

Elyse merely shrugged as she was unsure.

"Whatever," shrugged Eddy. "Let's get this show on the road already."

And so, the kids headed off to Bluffington Middle School.

"You kids have fun now." Cherry said.

"We will." The young adventure group replied as they soon went to the new school.

* * *

Elyse took a deep breath, shaking cold chills and went with them, grabbing her backpack straps. Susan peeked her head out of the bag before hiding as she chuckled, being a stowaway. LJ took the front of the group as they went down the street.

"All right, now it shouldn't be too far from here." Vincent said on the way.

"And if we continue at our current pace, we should arrive in time before the first bell!" Double D added.

"You'd love that, wouldn't ya, Sockhead?" Eddy smirked. "Always showing up to class like ten minutes early."

"Diligence is important." Double D told him.

"Blah, blah, all I hear is 'I'm a nerd who loves school'." Eddy rolled his eyes.

"Very funny, Eddy," replied Double D sarcastically. "At least I want to make a good first impression on the first day."

"At least I don't suck up to the teachers." Eddy rolled his eyes.

"Yes, but that means Double D's gonna have a better future than yours." Ed teased.

"Ooh!" Eddy glared from that. "Sassy one!"

"Somebody's gotta be." Ed shrugged.

"And here I thought that was Eddy." Double D chuckled to himself.

The group continued on their way until they arrived at the school.

"Well... It's pretty expansive..." LJ remarked.

"At least it's not 30 feet tall like a New York City building." Elise added.

"That's an interesting shape." Chrissy said, seeing that the front plaque resembled a young girl's head.

LJ read the sign. "_'Beebe Bluff Middle School'_... Must be named after the mayor's daughter." he remarked. "Well, let's get a move on."

* * *

They soon continued to make way as the school was a bit pink and fluffy due to the spread of Valentine's Day which infested the students, both boys and girls surprisingly.

"Looks like everyone's getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day..." remarked Vincent.

"Yeah... Even the guys." Akito agreed.

"Sick," Eddy rolled his eyes. "Not even Curly Q back home got this excited about the holiday, and he just danced with Sarah all the time with the stupid ponies and dolls."

"Sickening," Ed replied. "At least there aren't any Kankers here."

"Those girls who like you a lot, right?" Akito asked.

"Yep." The Eds replied.

"Scary." Akito winced a bit for them.

"They've attacked us in our own homes," Ed exclaimed. "They'll stop at nothing to make us their love-monkey slaves! At least they don't know we're here..."

"Jeez..." Akito said with wide eyes. "Why don't you just call the cops?"

"Doesn't always work," Eddy huffed. "Not to mention my mom just makes it worse by smothering me all the time."

"It's like just cuz they're girls, then it's apparently okay, but if _we_ did it, they'd call the cops on _us_!" Ed replied. "Like some kinda double-standard!"

"Gross..." Akito said. "Well, let's hope you don't see them around here."

"I think we're good," Double D replied. "No one really knows we're over here in the first place."

"And thank God for _that_!" Eddy replied as they got to their first period.

"New people in town, huh?" A Southern voice asked.

The group soon looked to see a tan girl with blonde hair.

"Ah, this must be Patti." LJ told the others.

"That's my name," The girl smiled. "Patti Mayonnaise."

"Nice to finally meet you!" LJ shook her hand before turning to the others. "Doug has a _huge_ crush on her." he whispered.

"Ooh... Interesting." Eddy chuckled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Patti Mayonnaise." Angelica said to the girl, unable to resist curtsying to the girl.

"Nice to meet you too," Patti replied with a small giggle. "Heard we were supposed to get a new teacher today."

"A new teacher?" Zofia asked.

"Yeah, I don't know anything about her yet, but it oughta make things interesting in school." Patti shrugged with a smile.

LJ took out his notebook and sat between Chrissy and Kimberly. "Well... I guess it oughta be cool." he replied as he got one of his pencils.

"Yeah, might even be fun." Kimberly added.

Chrissy seemed to glare at Kimberly with daggers in her eyes. She began to twitch a little, as the subliminal messages were starting to rise over her subconscious.

LJ turned to face her. "You alright, Chrissy?" he asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing..." Chrissy said innocently to him before mumbling something about Kimberly. "Vixen."

Kimberly looked a bit confused, while LJ just shrugged and went back to his drawings.

"Tell me why we left school just to go to _another_ one?" Eddy groaned to Double D.

"Oh, come along, Eddy, I think school is interesting," Angelica smiled. "I've never been to one before when I came to Peach Creek to meet you and your friends."

Eddy blushed. "If you say so..." he replied sheepishly. "But I still think we could be doin' bigger and better things..."

* * *

Ed, meanwhile, had his attention held by a book entitled _"The Tales of Dave the Barbarian"_ ...And judging by how enthralled he was by it, it was a pretty great read. Elyse twiddled her thumbs as she felt a little nervous since she was the new kid in school, but she was also excited to be apart of the school's community since she transferred away from Wayside School at long last.

A short, brown-haired kid with glasses and an orange shirt with green shorts sat nearby. "Lemme guess, new school, right?" he asked Elyse.

"Heh, um, yes," Elyse replied. "I start today, so I'm a little shaky, but also pretty excited since I'm out of my old school. Trust me, it was a zoo, and I didn't even have a monkey as my gym partner."

"Boy, that's rough," said the kid. "At _my_ old school, my teacher had it out for me, my so-called best friend always got us in trouble, there was this girl who was obsessed with me, and the girl I was in love with was shallow, spoiled and self-absorbed. Not to mention what happened on the day I was supposed to graduate. I had to pick my diploma from a pile of them, but I accidentally made them get burnt to ashes... And we all had to retake the course... AGAIN. Then everyone beat me up."

"Eek..." Elise winced. "I'm so sorry... Not even my granduncle would've been so harsh when he was in charge of-... Um... His council job before my mother joined after his retirement."

"It's fine; as a sidekick, that's pretty much my lot in life," The kid replied. "My name's Eric... Eric Needles."

"Hey, Eric," Elise replied. "My name's Elyse Moltenscar."

"Nice to meet you, Elyse." replied Eric with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Eric," Elyse smiled back before frowning a little. "I'm sorry your old school was rough on you, that must've been really horrible. I've heard of the Sidekick Academy though, I didn't think it was an actual place like Sky High or something."

"Well, it _is_," replied Eric. "And since my assigned super, Maxum Man, went M.I.A., I've gained the bruises and scars to prove it."

"Maxum Man... They ever find that guy?" Elyse replied. "You'd think he's harder to find than Carmen Sandiego."

"Well, as of yesterday, nope." Eric replied.

"Hm..." Elyse rolled her eyes. "I guess he's hiding out with Carmen Sandiego then."

"You have a pretty good sense of humor." Eric chuckled.

"Thanks," Elyse smiled. "I tend to crack jokes now and then. I guess I'm trying to find something I'm good at."

"Well, I found out I was good at cooking," replied Eric. "But I haven't done it in a while..."

"It's so good to see men cooking," Elyse smiled to that. "My dad cooks almost all the time."

Eric smiled. "Your dad sounds really cool." he replied.

Elyse smiled back as it looked like she made a new friend.

* * *

Eventually, the bell rang, and the new teacher came into the classroom.

"Hel-lo!" Eddy blinked with wide eyes.

"Hello, children..." The new teacher said, flaunting her ebony hair a bit. "My name is Ms. Deborah Sullivan, and I will be your new teacher."

"Good morning, Mrs. Sullivan." The classroom replied.

"Yes, hello there," Ms. Sullivan replied with a nod. "It's so nice to meet you all and to be in Bluffington Middle School."

"It sure is, especially with the changes that have been made recently." A girl seemed to smirk a bit.

"Ah, yes, you seem to really approve." Ms. Sullivan said to her.

"Well, of course I do," The girl replied. "I am Beebe Bluff after all."

Ms. Sullivan smiled. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, but of course it is, and welcome to our school." Beebe smiled back innocently.

"Well, she's not as evil as I thought she would be as the rich girl in school." Eddy commented.

"Indeed," Double D nodded. "Beebe does seem genuinely nice, if not a bit entitled."

Ed still had his attention turned to his new book.

"All right, everyone, since I'm your new teacher, I guess now would be a good time for roll call." Ms. Sullivan suggested.

"Well, she seems nice enough." Elyse said to herself.

Ms. Sullivan cleared her throat. "LJ Schwartz?"

"Here."

"Zofia Schwartz?"

"Here."

"Elyse Moltenscar?"

"Present."

"Ambrose Spellman?"

"Here."

"Douglas Funnie?"

"Here."

"Skeeter Valentine?"

"Here! Honk-honk!"

LJ chuckled a little from Skeeter's response.

"Angelica...?" Ms. Sullivan continued before smirking a bit. "Hmm..."

"Uh, I believe you mean me, ma'am, so, yes, I'm here." Angelica smiled innocently.

"Of course..." Ms. Sullivan smirked. "Patricia Mayonnaise?"

"Here."

"Roger... Klotz?"

"Ready and raring to go, Teach!"

Eventually, Ms. Sullivan finished the roll call.

"Well, that was pretty nice." Elyse commented.

Angelica smiled, though Ms. Sullivan seemed to smirk to her as there was more to her than met the eye.

"I also hear that you're all going to be celebrating Valentine's Day with a little school dance," Ms. Sullivan soon said to them. "That sounds like a lot of fun, if you have a partner, that is."

"I guess." Elyse shrugged to herself.

"I guess I'm pretty lucky then... I got two partners." LJ smiled.

"And one is better than none!" Eddy winked at Angelica. "Dunno about Lumpy and Sockhead, though."

Angelica smiled bashfully from that before giggling from Eddy's "charm and compliments".

"How does a kid like that get two girls?" Roger complained about LJ.

Ed sighed as he seemed to be daydreaming... Though about something he'd never daydreamed about before: girls.

* * *

From reading his book, he seemed to envision himself in a fantasy setting which had knights, princesses, and of course barbarian heroes. But not just any barbarian heroes, the royal family of King Throktar and Queen Glimia, which included their children: Dave, Fang, and Candy, who were with their Uncle Oswidge who was a sorcerer.

"Whoa..." Ed exclaimed. "This is SO AWESOME!"

"**HEY!**" A voice yelled.

"Sarah?" Ed asked, looking around.

When Ed turned around, he saw a young girl with dark skin, was barefoot with orange hair, green eyes, an orange dress, and a bone through her hair, glaring at him as she held a spear.

"Who are you and what are you doing on _my_ property?!" The girl glared at Ed.

"Oh..." Ed sighed in relief. "For a second I thought you were... Never mind. Name's Ed. Just came here."

"Ed...?" The girl repeated. "Why have you come here?" she then glared again. "Are you gonna take over Udrogoth?!"

"One, I don't wanna take over anything; I'm a good guy!" Ed protested. "Two, I hardly even KNOW what an Udrogoth IS!"

The girl narrowed her eyes at him, lowering her spear. "All right, I guess you're clean," She then said. "Udrogoth is my home, and, well, you're here. They call me 'Fang'."

"That is such an awesome name." remarked Ed.

"Heh, thanks." Fang replied.

"No problem." Ed said.

They soon walked along the courtyard together and soon came up to the castle and Fang let him inside.

"Oh, you live in the castle?" Ed asked.

"Well, I _am_ a barbarian princess." Fang replied.

"Huh... Cool." Ed remarked.

Fang walked in with Ed, going down the hallway together.

* * *

"Can you _believe_ she talked to that ogre from the swamp? I mean, how desperate can she be?" A valley girl voice scoffed as they came into the throne room to find a teenage princess who was using a crystal ball like a cell phone, leaning against the throne like she was lounging. She had shoulder-length dark red hair, wearing a golden crown over her head, blue eyes, a short pink dress with a short purple overcoat over it.

"**CANDY!**" Fang soon yelled right beside her. "We have a visitor."

Ed's face went red with surprise as it seemed to heat up for him.

"Fang, I told you not to scream in my ear." Candy glared.

"Not my fault you don't hear me the first time." Fang huffed, crossing her arms at her sister.

"All right... Gotta go, Cheezette," Candy said before hanging up and sat up, looking to Ed. "Whatya want?"

Ed suddenly shook off his blush. "Uh... Hi. I'm Ed..." he replied.

"Ed..." Candy replied. "Right... Um, are you visiting from a different kingdom? I don't think I've seen you here before."

"Yeah, you could say that..." Ed replied with a blush.

"You're not gonna attack, are you?" Candy asked nervously. "There's a Backstreet Minstrels concert I wanna go to."

"Oh, brother." Fang rolled her eyes.

"Nah, of course not!" Ed replied. "I don't go attacking places for no reason!"

"Hmm... Fair enough," Candy crossed her arms. "So, what are you doing here then?"

"Just traveling, really..." Ed blushed. "And I guess something or someone caught my attention."

"So, uh, what do we do with him?" Fang asked Candy.

"Uh, I'm not sure to be honest." Candy shrugged.

"Hey, I'm alright." Ed replied, looking at Candy with a lovestruck expression.

"Get Dave and Uncle Oswidge." Candy suggested.

Fang shrugged and ran out of the throne room.

"So, uh, I'm Princess Candy," Candy said to him. "I'm supposed to be in charge until my parents come back from fighting evil."

Ed smiled. "Wow... That's pretty cool." he replied, hanging on every word of her dulcet tones.

"Uh, thanks," Candy said to him. "You're quite an odd fellow."

Ed blushed. "Thanks... I get that a lot, although it's usually never said in that nice a manner." he replied.

Candy seemed oblivious towards his feelings about her before shrugging.

* * *

Eventually, Fang came back with a couple of members of their family: a heavily built figure, brown hair, green eyes, wearing a red barbarian uniform and appeared to have his own sword which seemed to have a face and a tiny older man with dark skin, a gray beard with some gray hair, a floppy blue hat, and a purple robe. There was also a yellow pig-like dragon with pink eyes, pink horns, orange wings, and pink spots who seemed to come with them.

"Well, Ed, this is the rest of the family," Candy said to the stranger. "My brother Dave, my Uncle Oswidge, and Dave's pet... Dragon, Faffy."

"Nice to meet you all." Ed replied casually.

"Uh, hi, there," Dave said. "You're new in town, huh?"

"Doesn't take a lot to surprise you, does it?" The sword deadpanned.

"Yeah, pretty much," Ed replied before doing a double-take. "Pretty cool talking sword you got there!"

"Oh, uh, thanks," Dave said before drawing out his sword to show Ed. "Her name's Lula. She's an enchanted sword."

"Cool... I bet she's seen all _kinds_ of action!" Ed exclaimed.

Dave smiled to Lula.

* * *

In the real world, everyone listened to Ms. Sullivan even if Ed seemed to be in another world of his own. Skeeter, however, was ecstatic about his big discovery, and was already constructing a plan to solidify it.


	4. Chapter 4

It was soon lunchtime.

"Well, at least the food looks decent." Elise said as she looked at her lunch tray.

"This dance is gonna really **STINK!**" Bebe was heard ranting.

"Huh?" asked Doug. "How can it stink?"

"The student council is supposed to pick two people to coordinate the dance," explained Connie Benge. "But nobody signed up!"

"People are _so_ selfish," remarked Bebe. "Sure, everyone wants to _go_ to the dance, but do they wanna lift a finger to help? No-o-o-o!"

"Why don't _you_ help, Bebe?" asked Eric.

"You expect _me_ to put _my_ mouth on balloons?" asked Bebe. "Touch streamers? Ugh! No WAY!"

"Sorry we asked." Elyse rolled her gray eyes.

"We have less than a week left," Connie replied. "Whoever we get is gonna have to work day and night to get ready!"

"Day and night...?" Doug asked as his mind drifted a bit, thinking about Patti of course.

"You really think _I'd_ be good at coordinating a dance?" asked Patti at the table. "I've never done anything like that before!"

"I think you'd be great at whatever you wanted to do, Patti," said Doug. "I think if you worked on this dance, it'd be the best dance ever."

"Really?" Patti smiled from that.

* * *

Elyse soon began to look for a place to sit before seeing her new friends and came to sit with them.

"Hey, you made it." Zofia smiled.

"Heh, guess I got lost." Elyse smiled back, sheepishly.

"Happens to the best of us," LJ replied as he ate his lunch. "No harm, no foul."

"The food may not be as good as my dad's, but it definitely beats Miss Mush's food." Elyse said from her memories from Wayside.

"Now, now, don't think about Wayside School... Think about your lovely new school." Angelica advised.

Eric agreed. "Yeah! Focus on the here and now!" he replied as he ate.

Elyse smiled from that as she ate lunch with them. LJ glanced over at Kimberly and Chrissy, who seemed to be at odds with one another.

"Chrissy, did I say something wrong?" Kimberly asked. "If I did, I'm really sorry, and I won't do it again."

"Hmph!" Chrissy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"What's going on?" Zofia asked.

"I don't know!" Kimberly replied. "It feels like Chrissy hates me all of a sudden."

"Well... There's only _one_ way to get to the bottom of this." replied LJ.

"And that would be...?" asked Kimberly.

"Impromptu Spaghetti Dinner." explained LJ.

"...Uh...?" Kimberly blinked, feeling confused at first.

"Because nothing brings people together like pasta meals!" LJ explained.

"Hm... If you say so... I think my Abuela said something like that once." Kimberly replied.

Chrissy glared at them both as they talked to each other.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go check my locker," LJ replied. "I'll catch up with you guys in next period." He got up, bussed his tray, and headed to his locker. As soon as he left, Chrissy followed behind, lovesick thoughts on her mind.

"I didn't do anything wrong, did I?" Kimberly asked the others.

"I don't think so," Zofia replied. "You're usually a very nice and easy-going girl."

"Whatever's happening, I'm sure it'll be resolved in a matter of time," Akito replied. "And you two will be back to normal status soon!"

"Hmm... I hope so..." Kimberly replied. "Akito, you seem so wise."

"I do what I can," Akito smiled. "I gotta know this stuff if I'm gonna be a superhero detective when I grow up."

"Superhero... Detective...?" Kimberly asked.

"Yeah!" Akito beamed. "I'm gonna fight crime from villains while solving mysteries!"

"Cool!" Kimberly replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, LJ opened his locker... Only to be bowled over by a pile of Valentine's cards. "Anyone get the number of that truck...?" he asked, shaking off his dizziness.

Zofia came over to help out her brother. "Where'd all these cards come from?!" she then asked while helping him out of the pile.

LJ looked down and fished an armful out. "Well, they're all signed with Chrissy's name." he replied.

"Of course they are!" Chrissy beamed as she soon came by him.

"Chrissy, what's with all the Valentines?" Zofia asked.

"You know me, I just love LJ." Chrissy smiled with sparkling eyes.

LJ let out a yelp and waved his hand around. "I think I got a papercut..." he hissed, clutching his cut finger.

"Oh, my! I'll fix that right away!" Chrissy said, taking out a First Aid Kit and ran around him, wrapping him up in gauze, making him look like a mummy.

"Uh, that's a bit extreme." Kimberly commented.

"I think I know what's best for LJ!" Chrissy glared slightly.

LJ mumbled something through the bandages, which translated to "While your concern is appreciated, I am cordially inviting you to a spaghetti dinner tonight at 8:00. Formal dress is optional, though it wouldn't hurt. And now... I must make the preparations!" And he waddled off, looking like a mummified penguin.

Chrissy and Kimberly soon looked to each other about the spaghetti dinner invitation.

"Did you really have to wrap him up?" Zofia asked Chrissy. "How about hot soup? Maybe using some defibrillators? Oh, I know!-"

"Okay, okay, I might've gone a little overboard." Chrissy cut her off right there.

"Just a suggestion." Zofia replied with a smirk.

* * *

Meanwhile, LJ was at home and making sure he had all the ingredients for preparing the spaghetti. "Tomato sauce: check. Noodles: Check. Boiling, lightly-salted water: check. Cheese to sprinkle on the sauce: check. Alright, time to get cooking!" he exclaimed.

"Are you sure your parents are okay with you using the kitchen like this?" Two-Tone asked him.

"Sure they are! I know my way around here!" LJ replied as he put the noodles into the boiling water.

"Well, all right then," Two-Tone said. "I hope the girls love it."

"If I'm lucky, they will." LJ replied as he started looking for the colander.

Two-Tone watched him as she just sat there. "Try the lower cupboard." She then suggested.

LJ checked under the cupboard and fished out the colander. "Oh, thanks!" he exclaimed as he waited for the pasta to finish boiling.

"I think I saw your mother put it there the last time she washed dishes." Two-Tone gave a small smile.

LJ nodded in response. Eventually, the spaghetti was done boiling, and LJ dumped the water out while putting a small half-teaspoon of butter on the noodles to mix in. Afterwards, he added the sauce and sprinkled the cheese on top, then he mixed it thoroughly.

"Honey, your visitors said they're on their way." Cherry's voice said from outside of the kitchen.

"Great! I'm almost done!" LJ smiled as he spooned out three plates of spaghetti, then put a candle in the middle of the table. "Aaaand... Ready!"

Two-Tone smiled to that, though she also hoped this would work out well enough for LJ.

* * *

Finally, LJ heard a knock at the door as he finished pouring the drinks. "Coming!" he called. "I can't believe my preparations went off without a hitch..." he snickered before opening the door.

Chrissy soon came through the door first, wearing her favorite maroon colored dress with pink gloves that went up to her elbows and her hair done in a ponytail while Kimberly came in after, wearing small white earrings, a red rose in her hair, wearing a white top with short sleeves, and a red and yellow skirt with short black-heeled shoes, and had on a golden heart-shaped necklace.

LJ blushed at that, before clearing his throat. "Ladies! SO glad you could join me tonight. Please, do come in." he said, holding the door open for them.

"Thank you, LJ, such a gentleman." Kimberly smiled as she walked in first while Chrissy glanced to her.

"You're too kind." Chrissy added.

"Hey, I try," LJ smiled as they all sat at the table. "Before we eat, I wanna get to the bottom of something: lately, I've been informed that Chrissy has been acting unusually lousy towards Kimberly. Why, exactly _is_ that?"

"She just wants you to herself!" Chrissy soon snapped. "If anything, I truly love you for who you are!"

"Hey, I do too!" Kimberly glared. "You've been acting like a spoiled brat."

"I deserve LJ," Chrissy said, grabbing onto the boy like he was a prize. "We should be together. FOREVER! And no one should stand in my way, especially a thief like you!"

"**QUIET!**" LJ boomed. "For as long as I can remember, you two have actually been getting along! Now, all of a sudden, you can't stand each other!" he sniffled, tears forming. "Why can't things go back to how they used to be? *sniff* Why can't you be friends... If not for your own sakes, but for mine?"

Chrissy and Kimberly looked to him before looking to each other.

"But... Kimberly was being jealous that it wasn't just you and her." Chrissy said.

"I never said that though!" Kimberly frowned.

"Instead of thinking about how this affects you... Try considering how it affects everyone around you," LJ replied, wiping some tears from his face. "I love you two equally, and I don't want to lose either of ya."

Chrissy and Kimberly looked to each other.

"Then why did you say that stuff?" Chrissy asked Kimberly.

"I never said anything mean in my life!" Kimberly told her. "I don't know why you think that, but I would never insult anybody, even if they were being a big old Meany Pants."

LJ glanced at them. "To be honest... I invited you both here so I could figure out _why_ you were being so hostile towards Kimberly all of a sudden," he explained. "I just wanted to help you two."

"Well, even though I didn't do anything... I'm sorry, Chrissy." Kimberly then said.

Chrissy wiped her eyes. "Oh, I suppose I could believe you... Aw, great, my mascara is running!" she then complained.

"I'm so sorry about that," replied Kimberly as she took out a tissue and wiped Chrissy's face with it. "It's not much, but it's the best I can do with what I have."

"Thanks, Kimberly." Chrissy then said softly.

"No problem; that's what friends do for each other." smiled Kimberly as they hugged.

Only to notice LJ was now crying tears of joy at this. "It's... So beautiful..." he sniffled.

Kimberly and Chrissy smiled and soon they both hugged him then.

LJ smiled. "I'm so glad you're friends again... Now we can all have spaghetti!" he exclaimed.

"Sounds good." Kimberly smiled back.

"Yeah, it looks great." Chrissy agreed.

"Then we can dig in!" LJ remarked, taking his fork.

Chrissy and Kimberly soon began to eat spaghetti with LJ. Cherry poked her head in just to check that everything was going alright, then gave a small smile before going back to hide since she was asked to stay away so that they could have some privacy.

* * *

The rest of the night went on peacefully, though Berry was angry that her plan had failed.

"Dang it... I was so close..." Berry growled. "I had that little brunette right where she was supposed to go! Ugh! Now what am I going to do?! Chrissy's not even born good, and I should know... She was always a spoiled brat as a kid, especially when she found her talent in singing like a Siren."

"Brat?" asked LJ. "Berry, what are you talking about?"

But Berry was so busy ranting, she didn't notice him behind her. "Everything was just fine when I was Chrissy's only friend!" The two-faced imaginary friend continued to herself. "All she wanted was to be popular and loved by everyone! I could've made her a shining star! Even before those Dazzlings found her and took her in and made her into one of them by giving her that special necklace like when they infiltrated Canterlot High School!"

LJ gasped in shock.

Berry grumbled before she soon kicked a stone out of her way, crossing her arms. "Stupid Chrissy... As soon as she saw that LJ boy, she lost her mind," she huffed while staring out into the distance. "When is she going to realize that?"

"So... The truth finally comes out." LJ said.

Berry blinked before turning her head as she thought she heard something. LJ was standing behind her.

"Oh... It's you..." Berry then said once she saw him.

"And I heard everything," LJ replied. "For shame, Berry. For shame."

"Oh, please," Berry snorted. "As if Chrissy even really loves you anyway. Who would love you?"

"Apparently not you." Chrissy replied as she stepped forward.

"Chrissy?" Berry asked.

LJ glanced over to Chrissy as he felt a bit hurt from what Berry had said about her.

"Chrissy... Hi..." Berry grinned innocently. "I've missed you so much~"

"Stuff it, Berry," Chrissy replied. "I heard what you said. Every word."

Berry blinked with wide eyes.

"LJ, I can explain." Chrissy said to the boy.

"Go ahead," LJ replied. "I got time."

"Well, first of all, I'm really sorry," Chrissy said to him. "Not just about with Kimberly, but for what Berry said about me. I really _do_ care about you though, and, sure, I'm with the Dazzlings, but I never want to hurt you."

LJ smiled. "You dunno how happy I am to hear that." he replied as he hugged her.

Chrissy blinked before hugging LJ back.

"**NOOOOOO!**" Berry yelled out, throwing a tantrum. "**YOU TWO ARE RUINING ME!**"

"Aw, stuff it!" Kimberly replied. "You're just a fake friend!"

Berry growled before lunging out to attack Kimberly.

"Get off of me!" Kimberly glared.

"Get off her!" Chrissy demanded as she tried to grab her imaginary friend.

"What she said!" LJ agreed. "Nobody messes with OUR friend!"

Kimberly glared as she actually began to fight Berry back and flung her away.

"Whoa." Chrissy whispered.

"Guess that must've been from all of our adventures." Kimberly said about her fighting like she did.

"That was SO COOL!" LJ exclaimed.

"Oh, come now." Kimberly smiled bashfully.

"You better not come back!" Chrissy snapped to Berry.

"Or else you'll regret it!" LJ added as Berry brushed herself off and slunk away... Before getting knocked over by a car.

"Ooh!" Kimberly winced.

Chrissy snorted a little from that.

"Watch where I'm going!" Berry complained from the car hit.

"Come on, let's get back inside." Chrissy suggested to LJ and Kimberly.

LJ and Kimberly nodded, and they all went back inside. Chrissy closed the door behind them.

"I'll be back!" Berry glared. "You'll see, Chrissy! It's much better with MY way!"

Chrissy made the "blah-blah-blah" gesture with her hand.

"How about some dessert?" LJ smiled to the girls.

"Sure!" Kimberly smiled.

"Okay!" Chrissy added.

"Great! Now I just gotta find the ice cream!" LJ replied as he took out an icepick, a parka and climbing gear as he base-dropped into the freezer.

Kimberly and Chrissy giggled a bit from that as it was pretty funny. Eventually, LJ climbed back up with a tubful of ice cream and removed his climbing gear.

"Ice Cream!" Kimberly and Chrissy cheered as they ended up having a great evening.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, things were back to normal for all three of them.

"Mm... I hope last night went alright for the kids..." Cherry said as she took a drink from the fridge which was a crimson red bottle before she soon opened it and drank from it since she needed it.

"Hey, same here." Lionel replied.

"Thirsty?" Cherry offered him some blood.

"Oh, sure!" Lionel replied as he took some. "Ah... That's the good stuff."

"Well, last night seemed to go off without a hitch." Cherry gave a small smile.

"Oh, for sure!" Lionel replied. "Though you think there might be some truth to that whole monster hunt thing?"

"With the life I've led up until this moment, it honestly wouldn't surprise me," Cherry said. "I don't know what I can really do about it, but I'm open and curious to learn more about it since I don't know this area very well like back home."

"Well, most we can do is leave it to the kids," said Lionel. "After all... It's their story."

"Yep!" Cherry replied. "So I'm gonna be working on my newest novel off-screen!"

"And I'll help since I love you and have nothing better to do with my time!" Lionel added.

"All right then!" Cherry said before they went off together, staying out of the story for a while since this was mostly about the kids.

"Well, I hope Elyse enjoyed school, she seemed to have fun yesterday." Zofia said.

"Yeah," nodded LJ. "And considering I didn't hear from her last night, I'm assuming she was with Doug and the others."

"Especially with that one Eric Needles kid," Zofia said. "He seemed nice."

"Yeah, for a kid from a crapsack world," LJ rolled his eyes. "Uh, at least before he ended up here."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They soon had a quick breakfast and went to get going, telling Cherry and Lionel they would be back later.

* * *

They spotted Doug, Elyse, and Skeeter by their stop and went to join them.

"Hey, guys." LJ smiled.

"Hey, LJ," Skeeter smiled back. "Good to see ya."

"So, anything happen last night?" asked LJ.

"Nothing too important, but I'm gonna pick up my camera's pictures later if you wanna come along." Skeeter invited.

"Sounds great!" LJ replied. "Might as well come with!"

"Great," Skeeter smiled. "Meet you there. I'm quite excited."

"Yeah, these should be great." Doug added.

"Awesome!" LJ exclaimed. "I'll bring the others over to your place so they can see it!"

"We'll meet up with ya then," Skeeter smiled. "Maybe it'll at least make school more interesting with this dance coming up and all."

"Heh, maybe, we'll see." LJ smiled back to him.

And so, they both went off.

"Well, that made things interesting." Ambrose said as he soon appeared.

"Where did you come from?!" Zofia asked.

"The Other Realm." Ambrose smirked like a smart aleck.

Eric blinked. "...Friend of yours, right?" he asked.

"Uh... Yeah..." Zofia replied.

"He's _my_ cousin..." Elyse pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance to Ambrose being Ambrose.

Eric nodded. "Okay. Nice to meet you."

"Hey... I think I've seen you somewhere before..." Ambrose said to him.

"I'm Eric Needles." The boy introduced himself.

"Oh... Ohh! Yeah!" Ambrose replied. "You're from that place called Splittsboro."

Eric sighed. "Unfortunately, yeah. You've heard of it?" he then asked.

"My dad cursed that place once," Ambrose said. "They always took Maxum Man for granted."

"That... Might explain some things..." Eric replied. "Considering they dedicated a whole day to beating me up."

"Whoops..." Ambrose said sheepishly. "Sorry you had to live through that."

"Whatever." Eric rolled his eyes.

"Uh, maybe you'll meet someone cool at the dance?" Ambrose suggested. "I know I'm trying to look for the right girl for me."

Eric thought. "Well... I guess you're right." he replied.

"Heh, that's the spirit!" Ambrose beamed. "Who needs Vana?"

"How do you know about Vana?" Eric asked.

"I guess I should explain since it's okay now," Ambrose said. "I'm a teenage warlock. My father is Drell, he used to run The Witch's Council before I was born."

"Okay..." Eric replied. "That's pretty neat."

"I didn't want the responsibility though..." Ambrose then said. "Luckily for me, my dad picked someone else to run for him for when he'd retire."

"Yeah... Uncle Atticus." Zofia memorized.

Vincent gave a thumb's-up. "Now let's get moving."

"Come on then," Ambrose told them. "We got a lot of places to see and little time to do it."

"Thanks, cous." Elyse rolled her gray eyes.

"Sure, El." Ambrose smirked.

* * *

And so, the kids took off down the street. Ambrose looked among the girls of Bluffington Middle School who all seemed to have their own boyfriends for the dance, and he began to feel a little heartbroken as he was left out.

"Don't worry, you'll find someone." Vincent told him.

"I guess..." Ambrose sighed. "I got over my celebrity crush on Melissa Joan Hart, so I don't know what to do. She banned me from her Twitter when I sent her that video of me singing."

* * *

We then see a random cutaway gag of the social media site known as Twitter with Ambrose sitting on his head, strumming a guitar and wearing a white T-Shirt that said "I MJH", singing the Justin Bieber song known as "Baby".

* * *

"I can see why she banned you," replied Zofia. "Nobody should _ever_ sing that song."

"I thought it would look romantic!" Ambrose whined a bit. "I'm never gonna find a girl that likes me! Never ever!"

"Oh, Ambrose..." Elyse frowned.

"**NEVER!**" Ambrose cried before running off as he felt really upset right now.

"Aw, jeez..." sighed Zofia. "I wish there was something we could do to help him."

"I don't know if anyone can from that creepy crush..." Elyse rolled her eyes.

"Don't you see?! He was doing this to distract him from his loneliness!" Zofia told her. "Sure, his crush on Melissa Joan Hart was a bit intense, but he's trying to occupy himself since he's a little alone. El, he's your cousin, show a little empathy!"

"She's right, you know," Vincent shrugged. "He _is _pretty lonely, even if he has his moments of being a snarky troublemaker."

"Yeah, I guess..." Elyse replied. "I'm not sure how I can help him, but I guess I could try. He is my family after all."

"And we'll be glad to help." Zofia replied.

"I just hope he didn't run off too far..." Elise sighed. "Some new school week this turned out to be."

"Hey, relax," said Eric. "At least it's better than that Wayside place."

"Yeah, that's true..." Elyse replied. "I still have some sanity left to endure this place."

"There ya go!" Eric smiled to her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Doug, LJ, and Skeeter were walking in the woods.

"This is gonna make working on the school paper seem like... Working on the school paper!" remarked Doug.

"At least his last name's Funnie, not Walker..." LJ muttered.

"You say something?" Doug asked LJ.

"Eh, nothing." LJ replied ominously.

"I dunno if we can really _catch_ him, guys," said Skeeter. "Maybe we should just grab our bikes and go."

"Hey, we came out to catch a monster, and we're gonna." LJ replied.

Doug then looked around. "Speaking of the bikes... Where _are_ they?" he then asked.

They all soon saw that the bikes were now missing.

"They were right here!" Doug said, nearly panicking.

"Maybe something... Or someone took them..." Skeeter gulped.

"What, like the monster?" asked LJ.

"Bike tracks!" Skeeter then saw.

"Oh, yeah, right next to the b-b-b-b-big webbed footprint." Doug stammered nervously, seeing the tracks along with something else printed into the ground.

"Oh, man!" Both of them then gasped.

"Zoinks!" LJ remarked. "This is big! Not just big, but mondo gigundo!"

"We better get out of here." Doug suggested.

"Yeah... While we still can." LJ agreed.

The three boys soon dashed off out of the forest, not wanting to risk anything.

* * *

They soon ended up in a different house.

"Hey, Mom, can I stay over at a friend's house for a bit?" LJ asked on his emergency cell phone.

**_"All right, as long as you keep your phone with you and stay out of trouble."_** Cherry replied.

"Will-do, Mom." LJ replied.

**_"Have fun!"_ **Cherry said.

"Thanks!" LJ replied.

The two were still on the phone together for a minute.

**_"Aren't ya gonna hang up?"_** Cherry smirked playfully.

"...Love you too, Mom," LJ replied as he hung up... Before doing a double-take. "Guys? If the monster took your bikes... Then why are they in the backyard?"

"What?!" Doug and Skeeter asked in surprise.

"Are ya sure?" Doug asked LJ.

"Take a look!" LJ remarked, pointing to Skeeter's backyard, where the boys' bikes sat, unharmed.

Doug and Skeeter soon took a look to see that their bikes had in fact been right there the whole time. "Oh, man!" The two boys groaned as they came out toward their bikes.

"I guess somebody must have brought them back." Skeeter guessed.

"Yeah, somebody with monster feet!" Doug replied, seeing more footprints.

They soon looked out to the footprints before they seemed to lead up to the house.

"Oh, h-h-h-he's in th-th-th-the house!" Skeeter yelped.

"Then we need to draw him out..." LJ replied.

"We better be careful though," Doug warned. "It might be hungry."

* * *

And so, after donning suits of pot-and-pan armor, LJ, Doug, and Skeeter ventured into Skeeter's room in the basement. Skeeter accidentally hit the lamp which made the power go out in the neighborhood, and he used his flashlight to check the kitchen with a nervous smile. "Nope, no monsters here."

"Shouldn't we go downstairs and check your room?" LJ reminded.

"Ooh..." Skeeter groaned.

They soon went to the basement door to check for the monster down there.

"Hello, we're, um, coming downstairs!" Skeeter called out on the way down.

"Here we come!" Doug added.

They soon went down the steps, but it seemed quiet so far.

"Um... Anybody here?" asked Skeeter as they came down, approaching a door. "You can open it if you want."

"Go ahead." replied Doug. Nervously, Skeeter reached out and opened the door... Only finding the closet to be empty.

The boys sighed in relief... Until Skeeter's flashlight burned out.

"Aw, great..." LJ sighed from that. "Not only is there a monster, but we'll probably find light again deep in its stomach."

"Oh, man, I'll go get another flashlight." Skeeter said.

"I'll get it, where is it?" Doug replied.

"Oh, that's okay, I know where it is." Skeeter smiled nervously.

"Yeah, but I'm the guest," Doug told him, running upstairs. "The guest always gets the spare flashlight, that's etiquette, man."

"Hmph, I don't remember that rule." LJ rolled his eyes.

Skeeter whistled nervously, approaching his bed with LJ as something seemed to lift its head from nearby.

LJ tried to reach under the bed, but he couldn't get a good grip with all the clunky armor in the way. "Hey, Skeeter, do me a solid and check under the bed, wouldja?" he asked.

Suddenly, a large, blue creature with big purple eyes leaned down to do so.

"Thanks, man; I appreciate-" LJ started, before his face went pale. "That ain't Skeeter... ZOINKS!"

"Monster!" Skeeter gasped, seeing the creature before panicking and running around. His helmet soon covered his eyes and he ran around, only to run into the wall.

"There really IS a monster!" LJ panicked. "Like, run!"

Skeeter stumbled around for a few minutes until he bumped into the closet door. "Ohh... My head..." he groaned, taking off his helmet and trying to run for the upstairs door. Unfortunately, his rake got in the way, which caused him to get flung back down the stairs and the trash-can armor to fall on him.

The creature looked distressed at seeing the welding mask fall off of Skeeter and frantically tried to reattach it.

LJ looked on in disbelief. "Wow... For a monster, he's awfully gentle..." he remarked.

The creature soon put the mask on top of the trashcan with a smile until it kept falling down. The creature pouted and soon sat on the bed, looking a little sad.

"Aww..." LJ said as Skeeter soon came out from where he was forced underneath.

"Guys?" Doug whimpered nervously from out the window.

"You can come down now, Doug," replied LJ. "Our monster is here, but he's not exactly the terrifying beast we pictured."

* * *

**_LATER..._**

"Wow... He thinks my head fell off." explained Skeeter.

"He looks really upset." said Doug.

"He's so... Nice." noted Skeeter.

"I guess Mom was right about some monsters." LJ replied.

The creature turned to them which made them yelp and duck under the bed nervously. The creature then came up to one book before sniffing it and rather than eating the book, he seemed to be reading it.

"He's not scary at all," Doug said about the creature. "He must have sniffed out where you live."

"Wow, he can read!" LJ laughed a bit.

The creature then licked the book, about to put it in his mouth.

"Hey, this is a book you don't eat books, that is no," Skeeter scolded the creature, hitting him a bit before letting him take the book again with a smile. "That's nice, be nice to the book."

"Wow, I think you scared him, man." Doug commented.

"Can't believe he tried to eat Herman Melville..." Skeeter remarked as the creature turned in response.

"Hey... He looked." noticed Doug.

"Herman Melville?" asked Skeeter.

The creature pointed to himself.

"He must think that's his name!" LJ remarked.

"Okay, Monster, from now on your name is..." Doug smiled.

"Herman Melville!" The three boys said together before laughing.

"Put 'er there, Herman!" Doug smiled.

The creature then grabbed Doug and pulled him right into a hug.

"He likes you, man!" Skeeter laughed.

"Way cool! We have a monster buddy!" LJ replied. "I propose we take a group photo to commemorate the event, then swear to not show anybody else! Unless we can trust them, of course!"

"Yeah!" Doug and Skeeter smiled.

Herman soon put Doug down before wandering off to the bathroom.

"Whoa! I don't know what you're thinking, but using the Think Tank isn't gonna do it!" LJ told Herman, feeling like he knew what was going to happen.

Herman began to drink out of the toilet like a dog.

"Guess he was thirsty..." remarked LJ, as he took out his phone.

"No, Herman, bad! No drinking out of the toilet!" Skeeter scolded before looking to LJ and Doug. "So who do we tell first?"

"Guys, this is front-page headlines," Doug replied. "We're going to be famous, we have to go right to the top!"

"Doug, did you not hear me?" asked LJ. "Didn't you ever watch _E.T._? If we go telling lots of people about this creature, then the government is gonna show up and try to take him!"

"Gosh... I guess I didn't think about that." Doug replied.

"Well... Let's just take the pictures and get him outta here," LJ replied. "Maybe we can hide him somewhere so Skeeter's folks don't find him."

"Yeah, but where would we hide him?" Doug wondered.

"I could hide him at the place I'm staying at," LJ suggested. "Nobody'd suspect my place!"

Doug and Skeeter looked to each other.

LJ soon led them out over to his place, sneaking a bit quietly. "Okay, it's pretty late at night..." he then told them. "My mother could either be asleep by now or she's writing. Never disturb Mom when she's in the zone for writing a new novel."

Doug and Skeeter nodded as they guided Herman along.

* * *

Eventually, they arrived at LJ's temporary dwelling and managed to tiptoe past Cherry and Lionel, who were collaborating on writing once more.

"Hey!" Cherry called out.

LJ then froze nervously.

"That sentence is a double negative." Cherry told Lionel.

"Oops, sorry." Lionel said, backspacing on the computer.

"I never notice my own mistakes, but I can see others just like that." Cherry said before snapping her fingers.

LJ sighed in relief, then kept going. They quickly managed to sneak upstairs into the boys' room, and LJ let Herman stay inside the closet for the time being.

"Phew..." LJ sighed in relief. "Sorry, Herman, nothing personal, but we just gotta hide you here for a while."

Herman nodded in response.

"Good thing the others aren't back yet," LJ replied before checking his phone. "Apparently they're trying to help Ambrose. Here's hoping that works out."

"Is Ambrose your brother or something?" Doug asked.

"Nah, he's a family friend," LJ replied. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Okay," replied Skeeter. "I guess we can get back home. Good luck with Herman!"

"Thanks. I'll do my best," LJ replied. "And I'll keep him out of trouble."

"Yeah, good luck, LJ, we'll see ya later." Doug told him.

"No problem." LJ replied.

Doug and Skeeter then went to go back home while LJ was alone with the monster for a while.

"I guess I have plenty of time until the others get back," LJ sighed... Shortly before he heard the door open.

"Hey, Mother, Father; we're back!" Zofia announced from downstairs.

"Then again... Maybe not." LJ groaned.

Herman looked curious. Zofia soon came in with the others with a small smile.

"Herman, you gotta hide in the closet," LJ advised. "I'll get you some food later, promise."

Herman pouted a little and soon went to hide in the closet.

"I'm sorry, dude." said LJ as he closed the door.

"Brother? Is that you?" Zofia soon called out.

LJ grinned innocently as he ran up to his sister and friends. "Hey, gang! What's up?"

"You drink coffee or something?" Eddy asked. "You look jumpy."

"Me? Jumpy? Naaaah!" LJ scoffed. "Of course not!"

The others glanced at him.

"Mom and Dad are working on their book," LJ said. "They left some money though if you guys wanna order pizza."

"Pizza is good!" Lee and Estelle replied before blushing to each other as they said that at the same time.

"That takes care of those two..." LJ muttered. "Now for the others..."

"Brother, what's going on?" Zofia smiled. "You got another surprise?"

"Uh, no!" LJ grinned nervously to his sister. "It's cool."

"You can tell me." Zofia smiled, trying to lean over him to see if he was hiding something.

"Uhm... So, anyway, how did it go with Ambrose?" asked LJ, trying to dodge the question.

Zofia looked to him. "Well, we tried to distract him a bit..." she then sighed a little. "We went to the video game arcade, that seemed to work for a little while."

"Anything happen?" LJ asked.

"He saw some other kids who had their own special somebody..." Zofia said softly.

"And lemme guess, he got even sadder?" asked LJ.

"Yep." Zofia nodded.

"Well... I'm sure he'll find somebody." LJ replied.

"I hope so," Zofia frowned softly. "He seems pretty torn up about his celebrity crush. At least I'd never do that."

LJ raised an eyebrow. "This coming from a girl who rewatches _The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson_ from YouTube even though that show's been off the air for decades?"

"Hey, it's a fun talk show!" Zofia defended. "In one show, Craig dances to Brittney Spears!"

"That sounds nauseating..." LJ replied, his face going pale.

Zofia stuck her tongue out a bit. There was then a light growl heard.

"...Well, you don't have to growl at me." Zofia said in concern.

"I didn't growl at you!" LJ replied, before nudging the closet.

Zofia glanced at him before walking off. "Anyway, let's get that pizza." she then suggested.

"Sure!" LJ replied. "I'll be with ya shortly!"

Zofia glanced at him.

"Your brother's weird." Eddy said.

"Eddy." Double D nudged a bit.

"What? He is!" Eddy defended.

"Says the kid with the green tongue!" LJ replied. "But I bet the Princess likes it, if you know what I mean..." he snickered.

"Do what now?!" Eddy's eyes widened.

Double D chuckled a bit from that himself.

"What? What's so funny?" asked Eddy as they went downstairs.

LJ smiled innocently to the others while trying to keep calm about Herman being with them.

"So, pizza?" Akito asked.

"Yeah, sounds good." Estelle smiled to her twin brother.

LJ sighed in relief. "_That_ was too close..."

Herman growled from behind the door as he felt hungry again.

"Herman, I'll make you some food," LJ replied. "Just like my dad did for himself when HE was my age."

Herman let out a light growl from that.

LJ cracked his knuckles and conjured up a small box of cheese crackers. "Here, snack on these until I can get you some actual food." he whispered as he passed the box into the closet.

Herman soon took the box of crackers and began to eat them up instantly.

"There..." LJ sighed. "That should tide you over for a little while. Tomorrow, I'll teach you to talk!"

Herman let out a small growl to mean "Thank you.".

"Aw, you're welcome, Hermey." smiled LJ.

Herman let out a small growl.

"LJ, man, you comin' or what?" Ed's voice asked.

"Sure!" LJ replied. "Remember, stay in there!" he whispered before leaving.

Herman let out a small growl.

* * *

The group soon met up together to order a pizza for themselves.

"So, how were Doug and Skeeter?" Vincent asked LJ.

"Oh, they were alright," LJ replied. "We thought we had a lead, but so far... Things are inconclusive."

"That means nothing, right?" Ed asked.

"For now, it's not officially a closed case." Double D explained.

"Yeah," LJ nodded. "We'll do the best we can to keep on looking for the creature."

"I could use it for a scam." Eddy smirked.

"Oh, Eddy, when are you gonna learn?" Akito sighed from that.

"We couldn't do that," replied LJ. "Eddy, if someone else found out about your BattleToad powers, they might try to do the same to you: touring you around like a sideshow attraction for people to pay to gawk at."

"No way!" Eddy yelped.

The others gave small smirks.

"All right, I won't do that then..." Eddy replied.

"I just hope no one hunts this monster whatever or whoever it is." Angelica said spiritually.

LJ looked a bit nervous. "Yeah... Here's hoping..." he replied.

Soon, they all had their pizza and began to eat up what they could. Ambrose even had some, even though he was a little depressed.

LJ sighed, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Brose, I know you're feeling down in the dumps, but I think I might be able to help you out." he said.

"Yeah?" Ambrose asked. "You gonna sing a song _Schoolhouse Rock_ style?"

"Nah," replied LJ. "I'm not good with coming up with lyrics on the fly, though I _will_ let you know if any girl is single and looking for someone."

"Hmm... All right... That sounds like fun." Ambrose had to admit.

"There ya go, buddy!" Ed smiled, slapping him on the back a bit.

"Yeah, should be fun." Ambrose replied hopefully.

"That's the spirit!" LJ smiled as he ate, slipping the pizza crusts in his pockets.

* * *

They all continued to eat until they all got full.

"Ooh... I hope I didn't ruin my girlish figure." Chrissy said, looking down to her stomach.

"Of course not!" LJ smiled. "If anything, it went to all the right places!"

"Aww... Thank you!" Chrissy beamed to him.

"You're welcome." LJ replied.

"Well, I think I'm stuffed," Akito said, removing his belt, letting his stomach hang out a bit. "Phew."

"I know I am too." Lee agreed.

"Same here." LJ replied. "I think I should go use the restroom." And he quickly snuck upstairs.

The others looked to each other.

"Well, he just kinda abruptly left." Ambrose commented.

"Must've eaten too much." Lee guessed.

Kimberly squinted with Zofia. "Maybe..."

"He's been acting funny all day..." Zofia replied. "Something's going on, and I intend to find out what it is."

"Same here." Kimberly agreed.

* * *

Back in his room, LJ slid the pizza crusts underneath the door so Herman could get them. "There you go..."

Herman beamed and began to eat the pizza crusts happily.

LJ sighed. "At least he's fed and happy..." he remarked, flopping onto his bed.

Herman let out a small growl after eating his dinner.

LJ sighed as he put his head on his pillow. "This is gonna be tough..." he said to himself.

* * *

Eventually, Herman quieted down, luckily, as everyone else came to get some sleep. The others were a bit surprised to see LJ having dozed off, but paid it no mind as they got ready for bed as well.

"Kinda early for him to be asleep... Ah, well," Zofia shrugged before yawning and turning over. "Must've had a long night."

"I guess I couldn't blame him." agreed Kimberly.

"Something funny's happening with him though... Night, Kimberly." Zofia said.

"Night, Zo." Kimberly smiled before drifting off.

And so, they went to sleep once more until the next day would come.


	6. Chapter 6

Ambrose sighed as he fell asleep, though in his dreams, he seemed to keep dreaming about a mysterious girl who he didn't seem to know, but all he knew or could tell about her was that she had blue hair. "Who... Who _are_ you...?" he asked as they floated through the void. The girl seemed to giggle before running off, leaving Ambrose confused. "Hey, come back!"

The blue-haired girl giggled as she kept running away from Ambrose.

"Waaait!" Ambrose called out as he chased her. "At least tell me your name!"

The girl just kept on running, as Ambrose kept on following behind. "If you can catch me, maybe I'll tell~" she snickered.

"Grr... Girls!" Ambrose complained as he soon went back to chasing her. "You can't beat me!"

"Maybe I can." The girl smirked while running off from him.

"Augh!" Ambrose growled as he kept on chasing her as it seemed almost hopeless.

"Ooh, nice try, but not nice enough!~" The girl sang. "Guess you're not gonna find out my name~!"

"You're getting really annoying!" Ambrose growled.

"Hey, I couldn't exactly just let you win!" The girl replied. "It wouldn't be as fun~"

"Ugh..." Ambrose sighed. "I can tell this is going to be one exhausting dream and character arc."

"You better believe it, buddy." The girl smirked. "Trust me, it'll be worth it in the end."

The girl kept going further away, going through a door and it shut behind her.

"Hey, get back here!" Ambrose complained, running up to the door and opened it only to find a bright light.

* * *

"Wait! Come back! I wanna meet you!" Ambrose cried out in his sleep before he soon woke up. "Ugh... Not cool, dream. On the bright side, I have hope now..." he then said softly.

"You say something, Ambrose?" Lee asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing?" Ambrose replied innocently.

Lee glanced at him before going back to sleep.

"Who was that girl though...?" Ambrose asked himself. "This is gonna drive me crazy."

It seemed as though Ambrose would be dealing with his own situation, though he'd have plenty of time to handle it later. Eventually, the others began to wake up to start a brand new day together.

* * *

LJ yawned as he woke up. "Time to get the day started..." he muttered before his phone rang.

It was Skeeter. **_"Hey, man. Honk-Honk! We're gonna need you to bring Herman over to meet Mayor Dink."_ **he said.

"Hm? Sure, I can manage that..." LJ replied.

**_"Great, buddy, see you soon, right?"_** Skeeter replied.

"Yeah, give me about ten minutes." LJ told him.

Then Skeeter hung up.

LJ opened the closet, and thankfully, Herman was still inside. "Good, he's still here," he then sighed, before thinking out loud. "Now I have to figure out how I'm gonna get him out of the house without anyone else noticing..."

Herman was still asleep.

"Brother?" Zofia called.

"Wah!" LJ yelped, closing the closet door suddenly with a nervous grin. "Hey, Sis."

"Who're you talkin' to?" Zofia asked.

"Nobody." LJ replied sheepishly.

Zofia looked to him.

"Erm... Uh... Aren't you gonna get dressed?" LJ asked.

Zofia glanced at her brother before walking off.

LJ sighed as he lifted Herman onto a red wagon, which he covered with a blue tarp. "And now to get him over to Mr. Dink's place." he sighed.

* * *

Everyone else soon met up to have some breakfast together.

"Now, I just gotta get past them like with Mom and Dad." LJ sighed to himself. And so, he attempted to slip the covered wagon past the group as he made his way to the door.

"Not so fast!" Cherry called out.

LJ gasped as he tensed up again.

"Lionel, stop typing so fast, I can't keep up!" Cherry said.

"Sorry!" Lionel replied.

"Ugh... Mom, you are going to give me a heart attack." LJ groaned to himself as he walked off. He managed to get the wagon out the door and down the street.

"I can't believe I got him past the others..." replied LJ. "I was sure they would've figured it out..."

Kimberly was shown to be getting some ice before walking off only to run into him.

"Crud!" LJ yelped.

"LJ?" Kimberly asked. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, just taking something over to Skeeter's place," LJ replied. "Nothing major!"

"Oh... Um... Okay... You gonna get breakfast first?" Kimberly asked.

"I'll get it when I come back." replied LJ.

"You're worrying me." Kimberly frowned.

"Well, don't worry, okay?" LJ replied. "I'll see you later, I promise."

Kimberly kept her frown as he soon went to keep going to see Mayor Dink with Doug and Skeeter. And as soon as Kimberly was sure he couldn't see her, she followed behind LJ, but at a distance, so he couldn't tell she was following.

* * *

"I hope Mayor Tippy's home." said Doug, as he knocked on the door, but nobody answered.

"Knock again!" suggested Skeeter as the door began to open.

"But I already knocked." replied Doug as the door opened, revealing Mr. Dink.

"Well, hello boys!" The neighbor man chuckled. "You're just in time to see something absolutely fantastic!" and he quickly pulled them inside and put on sets of V.R. goggles on their heads.

"But Mr. Dink, we've got a headline for you to put in the paper!" said Doug, as Mr. Dink put on some V.R. goggles.

"Oh, just a moment, Douglas; wait 'til you get a load of this: virtual reality!" laughed Mr. Dink.

"Cool, i-i-it's like we're standing right in your living room!" exclaimed Skeeter.

"But we _are_ standing in your living room!" replied LJ.

"Exactly, everything's right where it is on real life, down to the last detail," said Mr. Dink. "It's exactly like being here, only much more expensive!" he took off his goggles and saw the boys in their V.R. equipment.

Doug and Skeeter were dumbfounded. "Wow!"

"Now, what are you boys all excited about?" asked Mr. Dink.

"We finally have proof, Mr. Dink! The monster!/Is it too late to get something in the paper?" said Doug and Skeeter simultaneously.

Kimberly looked on curiously. "Monster...?" she asked herself.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, boys," advised Mr. Dink. "I can't understand what you're saying!"

"You're not going to believe what happened!" exclaimed Skeeter. "It all started…"

And as Skeeter told the whole story, Kimberly listened in with interest.

* * *

By the time Skeeter had concluded his recap, he, LJ, Mr. Dink, and Doug were walking out to the Dinks' backyard.

"That's quite a tale, boys." replied Mr. Dink.

"Don't you believe us?" asked Doug.

"Well, it's just that, you know, people have been telling tall-tales like that forever," said Mr. Dink. "You need concrete evidence!"

"Should we show him now?" asked Skeeter.

"Sure, why not?" shrugged LJ, approaching the wagon he'd pulled over.

"Show me what?" asked Mr. Dink.

"Mr. Dink? Meet Herman Melville: the monster of Lucky Duck Lake!" exclaimed LJ, as he took off the sheet, revealing Herman, who was still underneath.

Kimberly did a double-take in disbelief, and Mr. Dink fainted in shock.

"Great, he fainted..." remarked LJ. "And after all the trouble I went to of sneaking Herman out of the house, too!"

"Well, I'm surprised, but only probably like 50%," Kimberly said as she crossed her arms. "Life is pretty interesting, is it not?"

"Yeah..." LJ replied. "Sorry about all the hush-hush stuff." And so he explained from the beginning.

"I see..." Kimberly replied. "I highly assume that your parents don't know about this either."

"No way," LJ said. "If Mom found out, I'd probably be sunk."

"Well, for a scary monster, Herman does seem pretty cute," Kimberly had to admit. "Then again, pretty much everything I see is cute."

"More or less." LJ replied.

"Well, I'm not the best secret-keeper in the world, but I'll do my best..." Kimberly said. "I once had a slumber party with a lot of root beer, so Gordon, Waffle, and Mr. Blik tried to sneak in disguised as girls, but... They more or less exposed themselves, so that wasn't on me."

LJ chuckled a little. "I see... Either way, if word gets out, Herman will be in great danger." he replied.

"Oh, I'm sure," Kimberly said. "This is like a movie I saw with my family once. It was called Harry & the Hendersons. This family went on a camping trip and they found Bigfoot. They thought they killed him, but they took him home and he came back to life, so they had to keep him a secret from everybody else."

"I see..." LJ replied. "Well, we just have to tell them in a way that Mr. Bluff can't stop."

"Now, if we call the newspaper, owned by Bluffco, and tell them we've got a story that Bill Bluff is a polluter, someone will kill the story and let's just say it won't be good for Herman either," added Mrs. Dink. "We have to call a citywide press conference, make a big splash."

"So, you're saying, we can't tell anybody about Herman Melville?" Doug asked.

"Absolutely not!" Kimberly replied.

"Well, I think that's a great idea, Mrs. Dink." Skeeter said as he tried to help out the monster as he didn't know how to act around the house.

"But until then we can't tell anybody about Herman Melville, for his sake," Mrs. Dink told them before she asked, "Can you kids keep him absolutely secret until tomorrow?"

"You bet we will!" LJ replied.

"Sure! No problem!" Doug and Skeeter added.

"I'll have the press come here tomorrow," Mrs. Dink then said. "Meanwhile tonight we better keep him close by."

"I'll continue keeping him at my place," LJ replied. "I just have to keep people from seeing him."

"Especially your mom." Kimberly said as she shook chills from that.

"Yeah..." LJ replied. "Though my dad would probably be okay with it."

"I think I got just the thing." said Mr. Dink.

* * *

A few minutes later, LJ came out of Mr. Dink's shed, accompanied by Herman, clad in a diver's suit.

"Subtle." Kimberly said.

"Good luck, guys," Skeeter wished. "We'll see ya around."

"Thanks," LJ replied. "Okay, Herman, let's head on home."

And so, he and Kimberly guided Herman home, making sure he didn't stumble over anything in the road.

"Well, I guess this could be like an experiment..." Kimberly said. "Maybe we could be like Herman's parents?"

"Huh... Yeah, good idea!" LJ replied. "We could be his mom and dad!"

"Of course," Kimberly blushed. "It can't be too hard, right? It worked in the movie, so why not here?"

"Hey, yeah!" LJ nodded. "We could feed him, and teach him how to speak and write and whatnot!"

"Hmm... What do we tell the others?" Kimberly asked.

"Well... We can explain that to them later." LJ replied.

"Well, alright," Kimberly said. "Let's just hope this ends well for Herman."

Herman let out a small growl from that.

* * *

Soon, LJ and Zofia guided Herman back into the RV trailer, past Cherry and Lionel.

"Grr..." Cherry groaned as she lost her motivation. "I'm getting all dried up."

"I know what to do," said Lionel. "Let's head to the kitchen and get something to eat. That ought to get the creative juices flowing in our brains."

"Hm... Yeah... Brain food is good..." Cherry said before she yawned and stretched a bit. "It's been a while since breakfast."

"At least an hour, even." Lionel replied, as they got up and went to the kitchen.

Cherry mumbled a bit as she left while holding her stomach as it growled from her touch. "Sounds like a dying whale..." she chuckled to herself.

"Is that an Undertale thing?" Lionel asked.

"Sorta," Cherry replied. "Let's just say I have a better love for butterscotch pie after that little journey."

"Hmm... Okay," Lionel replied. "If'n you say so."

They both came to the kitchen to look for some food to satisfy their appetites. And as they did, LJ and Kimberly snuck Herman into the bedroom.

"Hm?" Cherry glanced around before shrugging. "Thought I heard something. Must be coyotes outside."

"In this town?" asked Lionel. "No way."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Cherry yawned a bit. "At least the kids are safe and comfortable though."

"True on that," Lionel agreed. "In small towns like this, major-league stuff rarely happens."

LJ let out a quiet yelp and quickly cleaned up the mud from Herman's flippers so that way, nobody saw his footprints.

"How didn't I see that before?!" Kimberly whispered loudly in a panic.

Herman laughed a bit as he sat with her.

Cherry walked away from the fridge with some turkey, Swiss cheese, mayonnaise, and some bacon for her sandwich before looking around. "Something's up, I know it..." she said to herself.

Lionel shrugged. "Maybe," he replied.

LJ collapsed as he and Kimberly got back inside his room. "Well... At least nobody saw Herman..." he panted. "Now we just hafta teach him all that stuff we mentioned earlier."

"Maybe by tomorrow," Kimberly said, a bit drowsily. "It's pretty late if your parents are getting tired. I've seen them stay up after 4:00 in the morning."

"Solid point..." LJ yawned. "Herman... Stay here. Don't go outside."

Herman nodded, as LJ turned on his side, and went to sleep in his beanbag chair. Kimberly came to get some sleep as she curled up while yawning. Herman watched them until he fell asleep with them for a while.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Lionel and Cherry had decided to take a walk around town in search of inspiration. Fortunately, this was the opportunity that the kids were looking for.

"Hello?" asked LJ, picking up the phone.

**_"Hey, LJ,"_ **said Doug's voice. **_"We're gonna be having a press conference this afternoon at the Dinks' place. Can you and the others be there?"_**

"We'll try our best," said LJ. "In between teaching Herman the ways of the world and whatnot."

**_"I'm guessing that the others, besides Kimberly, don't know that Herman is there?"_** Doug asked.

"Most likely, no," LJ replied. "We'll be sure to fill them in A.S.A.P."

**_"As long as we can trust them of course,"_** Doug said. **_"Some of those kids, I'm not sure about."_**

"We're fine as long as my mom doesn't find out," LJ replied. "Moms find out secrets like this, we're all screwed. Pardon my French."

**_"I hear that,"_** Doug had to agree. **_"I got a sister Judy who's a bit of a drama queen."_**

"I can only imagine..." LJ replied. "We'll see you there this afternoon."

_**"Okay, later."**_ Doug said before he hung up.

LJ hung up with a small yawn as he came to the others. Zofia smiled as she curled up with her phone screen to watch a little video.

"Ugh... Is that that old Scottish guy?" LJ asked. "He was old when _Mom_ was a kid!"

Zofia stuck her tongue out at him as she kept watching the video.

LJ sighed. "Older sisters, they boggle the mind," he remarked. "Times like this make me glad that TJ and his friends became KND members... But I digress." And so, he led Herman into the kitchen. "Okay, buddy... Today, you're gonna learn how to eat cereal." he explained.

Herman tilted his head curiously about the cereal.

* * *

As soon as LJ led Herman into the kitchen, he put out two bowls, filled them with cereal, and put a spoon next to each bowl before sitting down. "Now, Herman, watch me, and do as I do." he instructed, before taking the spoon, scooping up some cereal, and putting it into his mouth and chewing up the pieces, before swallowing.

Herman watched closely from that.

"Okay," LJ smiled. "Now you try."

Herman looked at his bowl as he picked it up at first.

"Good... Good..." LJ said.

Herman then looked at the box and tossed the bowl away as he tried to eat the box instead.

"Herman, no! No!" LJ protested, catching the bowl. "We don't eat boxes! We eat from bowls!"

Herman tilted his head a bit as he looked to the bowl again.

"Now... Pick up the spoon, and do exactly as I do." LJ replied, doing the spoonful-of-cereal gestures once more.

Herman watched closely as he soon reached out to take the spoon that was in front of him.

"Now... Scoop up some cereal... And put it in your mouth." LJ replied, repeating the gesture with his hand until it got tired.

Herman then did his very best to copy LJ, though it was a bit shaky since this was his first time and all.

"There you go..." LJ replied as Herman managed to get some cereal in his mouth. "Now keep on doing that until your bowl is completely empty."

Herman smiled as LJ sounded happy so it made him happy as he tried to do as he was told.

"Keep at it," LJ smiled back as he took a look at the box. "Hmm... Postopia Rangers? Sounds like something Mom would know about."

Herman luckily ate a lot better that time as his bowl was empty, so he then tried to eat the bowl after he ate all the cereal.

"Herman, no. We don't eat the bowls," LJ replied. "We eat what's inside the bowls, then we put the bowls in the sink over there." he pointed to the sink.

Herman let out a questioning growl as he peeked over towards the sink.

"Yes, Herman," said LJ. "We put bowls and spoons in there."

Herman picked up his bowl as he tried to do that.

"Good... Good... Good..." LJ said as he watched Herman closely.

Herman looked over as he then put the bowl in the sink.

"There you go!" LJ congratulated him.

Herman beamed happily as he did something right for a change. There was banging heard outside from a hammer.

"What the...?" LJ blinked as he came to look out the window. "Eddy, _what_ are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doin'?" Eddy replied. "I'm making a lemonade stand."

"But it's the dead of winter." Double D told him.

"Details. Details. People love lemonade no matter what season it is." Eddy rolled his eyes.

"I don't think people are going to want to drink lemonade when it's 46 degrees out," LJ replied. "But whatever, man. Better you than that Buttsquat kid."

"I tried to tell him." Double D shrugged.

"Like I said, I gotta make money somehow." Eddy scoffed.

"Why don't you sell cookies or something?" Akito suggested as he passed by them on the street as he had his morning jog before breakfast.

"Where am I gonna get cookies at this hour?" Eddy asked.

"Oh, gee, I dunno..." Akito rolled his sapphire blue eyes. "Hey, LJ, sorry if these guys woke you up. They were still asleep when I came out for my jog."

"Ah, it's fine," replied LJ. "I was already awake, then I heard the hammer noises and came over to the window."

"Alright, good," Akito said as he came to the door. "Time for that breakfast after I had my jog."

"Okay, then," LJ replied... Before remembering that Herman was still in the kitchen. "Hope you don't mind company."

"Are your girlfriends here?" Akito asked before he saw Herman. "I promise I won't be a fourth wheel... Wow, that sounded odd to say since there's an even number of us..." he then said to himself with slanted eyes.

"...This is Herman," LJ explained. "Don't flip out, he's friendly. I'm teaching him how to do stuff."

Akito took a look, but let out a deep gasp. Herman came up to Akito to pick him up to give him a big hug.

"Heh, pretty good grip," Akito chuckled, though of course didn't feel hurt as his feet didn't touch the ground anymore. "Do you know Godzilla? My dad and Aunt Cherry know Godzilla!"

Herman growled a bit from that as he shook his head.

"No, huh? Ah, well..." Akito replied. "Pleased to meet ya though, Herman."

"He was born from the toxic dumping in the lake," replied LJ. "Also, seriously? Godzilla? The dude has only been alive for three months, most of which were spent in the woods."

"Heh, I couldn't help it," Akito shrugged. "Toxic dumping, huh? My mother hates that sorta thing."

"Had a feeling," LJ replied. "Naturally, Mr. Bluff will probably try his best to make sure that nobody finds out about it. And that would put Herman in danger."

"So, is this one of those 'Don't tell the adults, this'll be our little secret thing'?" Akito asked as he gestured to Herman.

"Yeah, pretty much." LJ nodded.

"All right, I'll do my best to keep this secret." Akito replied with a loyal salute.

"Great," LJ sighed. "Now they're gonna hold a press conference this afternoon, but we should be careful of anything suspicious. In case it's a setup, either one of us can keep an eye on Herman, or we might have to bring someone else to do it."

"Right," Akito replied. "People get crazy with publicity and greed, especially if it means they'll end up famous or rich."

"So that rules Eddy out," said LJ. "Looks like we might hafta call a group meeting."

"It might be for the best," Akito replied. "Your friends seem trustworthy enough."

"Then I'll call them over," LJ decided, getting out his phone. "I can only hope they don't freak out about Herman."

"It feels debatable with that blonde girl, Christine." Akito replied.

"She prefers to be called 'Chrissy' and that's a pretty good point." LJ said as he dialed the buttons on his phone.

"She just seems like she'd scream and flip out, though hopefully not a Sonic Scream," Akito remarked. "She reminds me of that old heroine: Black Canary."

"Yeah, I remember her," LJ replied. "Also Banshee of the Uncanny X-Men, but I trust Chrissy not to tell anyone outside our circle."

* * *

A half-hour later, the group had gathered inside the trailer.

"You are wondering why I summoned you all here, yes?" LJ asked.

"That and wondering why so early in the morning?" Ambrose yawned lazily.

"You'll be fine." Zofia rolled her eyes.

"But yes, what's this all about, LJ?" Ambrose then asked.

"Well... Turns out Doug, Skeeter and I _did_ find something in the woods," LJ explained. "Guys... Don't freak out... But we found the monster of Lucky Duck Lake. Ladies... Gentlemen... I give you... Herman Melville."

Upon hearing his name, Herman stomped into the living room.

"Say hello, Hermey." LJ told him.

Herman put up one hand and waved. The group looked a bit surprised. Chrissy looked like she was about to scream.

"Hold it!" Kimberly cried out as she tackled Chrissy to cover the other girl's mouth. "Shh~"

"I told you guys not to freak out," LJ replied. "Besides, Herman is friendly! He wouldn't hurt anyone! I've been teaching him etiquette, and I intend to teach him how to talk."

Chrissy muffled a bit.

"Hmm... You're sure about this?" Ambrose asked. "My parents told me about how this one time that Sabrina took a dragon egg from the Netherworld, thinking that it was a rock and it caused a lot of trouble."

"I'm certain," LJ replied. "Besides, if other people know about him, then they might try to use him as a sideshow attraction to profit off him... Or they could tell Mr. Bluff and have him taken away for experimentation!"

"Couldn't you just contact Sector X?" suggested Jenny.

"Nothin' doin," replied LJ. "T.J. and his friends are busy training some new Kids Next Door recruits, so we're on our own."

"Hmm... Well, if you say so, LJ," Martin replied. "I'd keep a close eye on this situation though."

"Oh, I plan to," LJ reassured. "Kimberly's even helped out a bit."

"It's true," Kimberly replied. "I saw LJ with Herman, Doug, and Skeeter last night, so I offered to help out."

"And we're gonna need you all to help us teach Herman the ways of the world," LJ added. "This is a group effort, so we've all got to pitch in."

"All of us?" Chrissy asked. "Well... All right... He just better not eat my make-up. Looking this good doesn't come easy."

The other girls rolled their eyes a bit from that.

"He knows not to," LJ replied. "I've educated him on what counts as food and what doesn't count as food. I guess Martin and Jenny could teach him how to speak... Chrissy could teach him style... Raul could help disguise him..."

"Hmm... I guess we could help with speech," Jenny said. "Our dad knew talking animals like a porcupine, a goat, and a pig."

"Those animals talked?" Zofia asked.

"Mm-hmm..." Jenny nodded.

"Sure... Maybe they did..." Ambrose said. "To Eliza Thornberry."

"No, wise-ass, they talked in plain English," Martin retorted. "Besides, is that so unbelievable, considering you happen to have magic powers? Most people would consider _that_ unbelievable."

Ambrose looked away bashfully from that.

"Jerk!" Jenny said as she punched his arm.

"Anyway... Are we all in agreement?" LJ asked the others.

"Yeah, I guess," Raul replied. "It's a little risky, but we've been through worse sometimes."

"Excellent," LJ replied. "Glad I can count on all of you. We've got a few hours until the press conference, but don't bring Herman until I give the signal."

"Right!" The others agreed.

"Quick question." Ambrose said.

"Yes?" LJ replied.

"What's the signal?" Ambrose asked.

"The signal is, ham and cheese," LJ explained. "If things go bad, then the bad-signal is, pimento loaf. Ham & cheese = yes. Pimento loaf = no. In the cabinet, you'll find several walkie-talkies so that I can keep in contact with you all and give the signals."

"You think of everything, don't you?" Chrissy smirked slightly.

"It pays to." LJ replied.

The others agreed to the plan as it was set. Herman came over to the others to give them a great big group hug.

"Good boy." Ambrose grunted a bit.

They soon heard light singing as Elyse was biking over while humming "The Wicked Witch" theme from The Wizard of Oz on her way over to see her friends.

"Elyse! Great timing!" LJ exclaimed. "We could use your assistance. Come in, and I'll explain everything."

"Hm... Curious..." Elyse replied.

"Come on in, but don't freak out." LJ told her.

"I grew up in The Supernatural Realm, I think I'll be fine with whatever you have to show me." Elyse shrugged.

"Alright," LJ said. "Elyse... Meet my pal Herman."

Herman gave a wave and a friendly grunt to say "hello".

"Erm... Hello, Herman..." Elyse said.

Herman then suddenly hugged the witchling.

"Well, I see he's taken up social skills from my dad," Elyse remarked. "...You didn't magic this guy up, did you?"

"It's a long story, but LJ's pretty much looking out for him," Chrissy said. "So, you gonna keep him secret or what?"

"If you want me to, sure," Elyse replied. "Besides, who am I even gonna tell?"

"Great." LJ replied.

"I'm just glad to be included socially." Elyse beamed slightly.

And so, LJ gave Elyse a pamphlet to explain the entire plan, because he didn't feel like explaining it again.

"You made this?" Elyse asked.

"Exposition delivery is exhausting." LJ panted a bit.

"So I've heard," Elyse replied as she took a look. "Oh... I guess that would be Bebe's father."

"Yep." LJ nodded.

"Rich people." Elyse rolled her gray eyes a bit from that.

"Mm-hmm," LJ nodded. "And knowing him, he'll silence any evidence of his illegal business practices. And that puts Herman in major danger."

"Ugh... I wish I could make this go away easily with some magic." Elyse groaned.

"Can't we?" Ambrose asked.

"No, 'Brose, 'cuz it's not that simple," Elyse told him. "Besides, we can't meddle like that. We'll just have to go with whatever LJ suggests since Herman Melville is his responsibility."

"Plus, if every problem could be solved with magic, then there would be no need for us anymore." LJ added.

"Heh... Yeah... I guess..." Ambrose replied. "Dad told me about that from Atticus and your mom's old adventures. Sometimes he'd send them out for errands to use without magic like that time that guy HIM made the Powerpuff Girls run around town to solve riddles sometimes without using their superpowers."

"Alright then..." LJ nodded. "We have a while until noon, so like I said, let's get to work."

* * *

And so, they all did what they could. Luckily for them, Cherry and Lionel were still out. However, the Eds kept trying their lemonade stand which would be doomed from the start since it was February after all, though Ed had other things on his mind. While this was pretty normal for him, he thought about what he daydreamed about from class which was Princess Candy of Udrogoth. Whenever he was around her, he felt something that he'd never felt before for anyone: genuine romantic love.

"Focus, okay, Lumpy?" Eddy reminded his bigger friend.

"Sure, Eddy," Ed rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot anymore, remember?"

"Whatever," Eddy replied. "You just look like your mind is elsewhere... But then again, that's normal for you like with Evil Tim."

"I'm just... Thinkin' is all." Ed replied.

"Must be a pretty wild experience for ya." Eddy muttered.

"Care to share with the rest of us, Ed?" Double D asked.

"Uh, it's nothing, really," Ed said as he crossed his arms. "It's... It's dumb."

Double D looked a bit suspicious, but shrugged. "If you say so, Ed." he replied.

"I'm not sure if you guys would understand." Ed sighed.

"I'll take a glass of lemonade." A man said as he walked by.

"Comin' right up!" Eddy grinned as he came to pour the pitcher, but unfortunately for him, the lemonade was frozen solid.

The man narrowed his eyes a bit impatiently. Eddy grinned nervously as he tried to shake the pitcher into the cup before he hit it on the table as it was stuck, bit soon slid out and came onto the cup while frozen solid.

"Made from concentrate? Right..." The man mumbled with annoyance as he decided to walk off with that.

"Stupid frozen weather..." Eddy groused to himself.

"I told you so." Double D smirked a bit.

"Don't start." Eddy snapped as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I have to wonder... Will I even see her again?" Ed whispered to himself. "She made me feel things I've never felt before... I guess this would be how Eddy felt about Princess Angelica."

Ed glanced at his friends, then returned to his inner thoughts. Eddy and Double D glanced over themselves, before shrugging a bit as they thought Ed was just being Ed.

"That one teacher seemed interesting," Eddy smirked. "Too bad our school back home doesn't have exciting teachers like that."

"Oh, boy." Double D rolled his eyes slightly.

"Try the school we go to sometimes," Zofia remarked as she passed by. "Ms. Scarlett usually talks about taking over the world to her pet mice she keeps in a cage on her desk, with how her father was a brilliant scientist, but he used his genius for good and not evil and her little sister always kept trying to play with the mice like her own pets."

"Huh..." Double D replied, at a loss for words for once.

"She's a crazy lady, that's for sure," Zofia rolled her eyes. "She tells us not to disobey her, otherwise she'll make our lives Hell on Earth."

"She actually said that?" Double D asked in disbelief.

"Believe it or not, but yes." Zofia replied.

"...That's disturbing." Double D remarked.

"That doesn't even begin to cover it." Zofia replied.

"Want some lemonade?" Eddy grumbled to her.

"In the dead of winter?" Zofia replied. "Why don't you, oh, I dunno, sell some fresh baked cookies?"

"Again with the cookies?" Eddy replied. "Where the heck are we supposed to get cookies?!"

"...Baking them?" Zofia shrugged. "People love homemade cookies."

"...I guess," Eddy replied with a shrug. "Figure it couldn't hurt."

"I swear, this scamming business is gonna get you in trouble someday." Zofia replied.

"Ugh, you sound like Double D on a bad day," Eddy rolled his eyes. "I mean, what is _so_ wrong?" he added. "We're just trying to make some money. Sides... That's just how my big brother did it."

"Hmm..." Zofia paused as she walked off from that.

"You just don't get it." Eddy said.

"Yeah, I guess I don't." Zofia mumbled as she left.

Eddy sighed and walked off, a bit of doubt manifesting within himself.

"Problem?" Double D asked as he suspected something.

"...Nah, it's nuthin', Sockhead," Eddy replied after a bit of hesitation. "Just... Clearing my head."

"Hmm... If you say so..." Double D shrugged.

* * *

Meanwhile, LJ and Kimberly watched over Herman the best that they could as he seemed to adjust over time with his new life. Some topics took longer to teach him, but fortunately, he managed to understand them better after a while.

"I think I'll wait a while before I become a mother after those lectures." Kimberly said, a bit tiredly as she tried to be patient with Herman.

"Likewise," nodded LJ. "Good thing we're a long way from being actual parents."


	8. Chapter 8

A few minutes later, LJ and Kimberly went to the press conference at the Dink house, while leaving the others at home to continue teaching Herman. Doug and Skeeter had gotten out of school for the day, and were already there; they waved to the two youths, who waved back.

"I'd like to introduce Mosquito Valentine, who'll tell you the story in his own words." said Mrs. Dink. She left the podium, and Skeeter came up to it.

"Thank you, Mayor Tippy, honk-honk!" he replied. "Sorry, always wanted to do that on TV. *ahem* Four months ago, I was fishing at Lucky Duck Lake..." Skeeter spoke as Guy and Patti arrived.

"Ah, this is pointless," Guy snorted. "We should be working on the dance!"

Patti gave him a look. "Shouldn't _you_ be here anyway, Guy?" she asked. "After all, _you're_ head of the school paper."

Guy rolled his eyes. "I couldn't get this story in the paper if I tried!"

"Whaddyou mean?" asked Patti.

"You know, we have this dinky little crank mimeo machine, it takes two weeks to get the news out, it's ancient history by then!" Guy explained. "If I want a story to come out on time I have to write it before it happens."

Patti just glared at him. "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of!" she retorted.

* * *

As Skeeter talked, LJ and Kimberly talked with Doug.

"Did you run into any kind of problems on your way here?" asked LJ.

"Well, on the way here, I saw this weird black car parked in front of my house," explained Doug. "And there were a bunch of guys in dark suits and sunglasses, talking into their wristwatches."

"Those must be Mr. Bluff's spies," replied Kimberly. "Probably sniffing around for proof about Herman."

"Snooping as usual, I see," LJ remarked. "Then we need to be careful."

Doug took another glance outside, but did a double-take upon seeing Patti with Guy. "She made it! Patti made it!" he exclaimed. "See Herman, that's her!" Herman pointed outside. "Yeah, the one with the yellow hair, that's her, that's Patti!" Doug exclaimed. "I can't wait to take you out there... And show you." his excitement began to wind down.

Mr. Dink was flipping through the channels to find the press conference on TV. "That's funny... The speech is supposed to be going out live," he said. "But it's not on any of the channels."

"Hmm…" Doug muttered.

"Not on _any_ channel? Not even local?" asked LJ. "Well, now... That _is_ fishy. Most local news channels would be all over this sorta thing like syrup on a stack of pancakes!"

* * *

Back outside, as Skeeter continued his speech, Patti noticed Guy was glancing from right to left, and so forth. "What are you so fidgety for?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Guy replied, his tone distant.

Doug, LJ, and Kimberly snuck outside, behind the throng of reporters, in order to investigate.

"...It was here that I first had contact with the monster," Skeeter spoke, as Doug accidentally tripped over a cameraman's cable, but when it was unplugged, the camera deflated like a balloon! "And so, let me reveal our discovery, which will reveal once and for all that there is a Lucky Duck Lake monster."

"A deflating camera?" Kimberly muttered.

The guy holding the camera turned to face the three kids. "Hey, watch it, buddy." he snapped before he blew some air into his 'camera' and plugged it with the cable.

LJ took out his walkie-talkie and turned it on. "If you're hungry, maybe you should get some PIMENTO LOAF!" he spoke into the device for his friends to hear. "After all, I know how much you guys like PIMENTO LOAF. Remember, get lots and lots of PIMENTO LOAF!"

"And now I guess it's time to talk about what happened at my house," concluded Skeeter. "My friends Doug Funnie, with an I.E., as well as LJ and Kimberly, will help me. Hey, guys!" he called to the trio.

As all the reporters turned to face them, Doug gulped nervously. But he, Kimberly, and LJ came up to the podium.

"Alright, they're coming!" Skeeter announced before stepping to the side.

Finally, the three of them stood before the microphone.

"Well, I'd like to say… Um…" Doug started, as he looked out towards everyone who was there. LJ and Kimberly were sweating bullets. "...Something's not right; I think we made a big mistake."

The 'reporters' began to argue and clamor, slinging questions like "Mr. Funnie, is this your idea of a joke?"

"I'm sorry; we gotta go now." LJ said. He took out a pellet and threw it down, expelling a large cloud of thick black smoke. While the reporters were distracted, he, Kimberly and Doug ran behind the Dink house.

"I knew it!" Guy remarked dismissively. "Sea monsters... Right."

"I can't believe it..." Patti said, shocked.

"What a major con artist!" Guy exclaimed as he and Patti walked away. "I can't believe you dragged me to this joke!"

"I'm really sorry about this, Guy," replied Patti. "I had no idea Doug would lie like that."

Doug whirled back around. "Wait! Stop!" he called out to Patti, but his shouts went unheard as the phony reporters continued to hound him with questions and remarks. "Patti! Patti...!" he cried.

* * *

A little while later, the reporters had begun to clear out, packing up their equipment into their trucks and leaving.

"What happened, guys?" asked Skeeter. "Why didn't you tell them about the monster?"

"What's going on?" asked Mrs. Dink.

"Take a look." LJ remarked, pointing at one of the news trucks.

Inside was a very large cage... No doubt it was meant to house the Monster of Lucky Duck Lake. And the backs of the doors had a shock rifle, two large pairs of handcuffs, an animal-restraining pole, and a flashlight. Whatever those were for, it _definitely_ wasn't for any benevolent intent.

"Then... It was a set-up!" Kimberly exclaimed. "Herman could've ended up in there!"

"Talk about a close call," LJ replied. "I reckon we should get him something to eat since we saved his life."

Herman smiled as peeked out to them.

"Careful!" Kimberly warned him before she gave a small smile. "Let's get you some food. You did a great job."

"I wish I could say the same about myself." Doug sulked.

"Doug, sometimes we all have to make choices we're not proud of," LJ told him.

Doug sighed. "I bet Patti thinks I'm a huge liar now..." he said.

"You did the right thing, kids," Mrs. Dink told them. "I'm proud of you."

"I've been telling people all year there was a monster in the lake," said Skeeter. "They thought I was making it up...now they'll never believe me."

"Bill Bluff is going to stop at nothing; we know that now," replied Mrs. Dink. "We have to do what's right."

"Even if everybody thinks we're big fat liars?" asked Skeeter.

"You kids don't want anything to happen to Herman," said Mrs. Dink. "and I know you wouldn't want to make yourselves look good if it would hurt him. Right?"

LJ nodded. "Right."

"Right." The others added onto that.

Herman beamed a bit as he brought them into a hug.

"You just have to do that right thing no matter what people think. Eventually, the truth will come out," Mrs. Dink advised. "Now, what do you say we have some of Bud's leftover meatloaf?"

Herman panted excitedly like a dog from that as he seemed to really like the meatloaf.

"Now you're talking," Mr. Dink smiled from that. "Let's go, kids!"

And so, they went to do just that.

* * *

The next morning, Doug left for school early. He wanted to explain things to Patti as soon as he could, but we had this creepy feeling somebody was watching him. The others began to get themselves ready for today while eating a quick breakfast together.

"Well, I'm glad you like this school better than Wayside." Zofia said to Elyse.

"Yeah, same here," Elyse replied. "I'm a little bashful though with all this Valentine's Day fluff."

"That's alright," shrugged LJ. "Perfectly normal reaction."

"Was there Valentine's Day at Wayside?" Zofia asked curiously.

"Yeah, but if I had to guess how it'd go this year, Maurecia would try to pulverize Todd as a way to say 'I love you'." Elyse shrugged.

"Poor kid." said LJ as they entered the school.

Skeeter was in the hallway with Beebe, holding a homemade Valentine in the shape of his head. "Happy Valentine's Day, Beebe." he said.

Beebe just turned her nose up at him. "Sorry, I don't take Valentines from lying lie-face LIARS!" she snapped, closing her locker and walking off, leaving Skeeter high and dry.

"Ouch..." LJ and Zofia both winced from that as it had to hurt Skeeter a bit.

"Oh, man..." Skeeter sulked from Beebe's rejection like that, but needless to say, that was the least of their worries.

* * *

Later that day, when school let out, the kids noticed that multiple government agents had surrounded Doug's house and were rummaging through in search of Herman.

"That settles it, then," LJ decided. "We have to find some way to disguise Herman. He's definitely not safe at home... Not for long."

"I know that we don't wanna use too much magic, but maybe I could use magic on Herman to disguise him somehow?" Ambrose spoke up.

"Perhaps," replied LJ. "Although I might have an idea."

"Yeah?" Jenny replied as she twiddled her thumbs. "Well, I'm all ears."

"Well, I saw this in an X-Men comic," LJ explained. "We could make Herman an image inducer to disguise himself as a human. Like we did with the Fluppies."

"Hm... Okay..." Ambrose shrugged. "Either way works for me."

"Besides, you're in-training," Zofia replied. "It might backfire somehow like it did with Sabrina."

"Oh, Sabrina, Sabrina, Sabrina..." Ambrose rolled his bi-colored eyes slightly. "I swear, I get compared with her a lot back home."

"Well, I still have some of the prototypes in the RV," said LJ. "C'mon; I should be able to modify one of them so that way they work."

"This way then." Ambrose said.

"Right." LJ replied.

They walked off briefly as they passed by, though quietly as they passed by Cherry and Lionel, then quickly again once they were out of the parents' line-of-sight as they came to where LJ wanted them to go. It took a few hours, but the others had continued teaching Herman how to speak proper English. And during that time, LJ had finished tinkering with the prototypes and programming in an image.

* * *

The next day, Doug and LJ were in Principal White's office, with a lanky young man with long blue hair, purple eyes, a red jacket, and blue jeans.

"Well, as mayor-... I mean principal, I am honored to welcome this new exchange student to our illustrious school!" said Principal White. "Welcome. What's his name?"

"Well, Principal White..." Doug started.

"Principal White?" asked the man. "Hmm... Now, why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Uh, actually, his name is... Herschel." LJ replied.

"Oh, what a handsome name! Herschel," Principal White remarked. "Well, uh, welcome to our school young foreign person, vote for me!"

Doug looked relieved that that worked as LJ gave a thumb's up.

"Thank you." Herschel said to Principal White.

LJ sighed in relief. "Good... Looks like those speech lessons paid off..." he muttered to himself. "Anyways, we should get Herschel to class, show him around and whatnot."

"Yes, you should, uh, I'll get you a quick schedule." Principal White replied.

"Right," LJ smiled. "Give him the best classes!"

"I'll certainly try my best, Sport." Principal White smiled back.

Herschel looked all around curiously to get used to the new environment, though Doug and LJ tried to keep him from wandering away too far away.

* * *

Later, they were in art class with Skeeter.

"I want everyone to just let their emotions flo-o-o-ow onto the canvas!" exclaimed Mrs. Perigrew, the art teacher.

"Can do!" LJ gave a thumbs-up.

Skeeter, Herschel, LJ and Doug were painting together, but Herschel was gargling the paint like mouthwash.

"Herschel, no!" Skeeter reprimanded him. "We don't drink the paints!"

Herschel sneezed, and the paint splattered on the canvas.

"Herschel, remarkable work," exclaimed Mrs. Perigrew. "So primitive, so free!"

"At least she likes it." Vincent shrugged to himself as he liked this class, of course.

Herschel wiped his mouth a bit from leftover paint. Ms. Sullivan peeked into the classroom a bit secretively as she waited around, mostly looking for Angelica. She and Eddy were busy working with the clay.

"When this baby is done, we're gonna be the next Michelangelo and David!" Eddy grinned, sculpting the clay into a muscular statue of Zitz (his BattleToad form) with Angelica, whose sculpt looked very attractive. "Van Gogh, eat your heart out!"

"Oh, Eddy, it looks so charming and handsome," Angelica smiled at him. "Just like you."

"Aw, shucks." Eddy smirked bashfully from that.

"Ah, yes, it most certainly is unique." Mrs. Perigrew said to Eddy about his project.

"Hey, I take inspiration from my life," Eddy shrugged. "My pal does a lot of drawings, and they help."

"Absolutely fascinating," Mrs. Perigrew approved. "Perhaps you should showcase for a future Art Show."

"I'll think about it." Eddy shrugged a bit.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Perigrew, but I must speak with the student Angelica... Alone." Ms. Sullivan spoke up as she came into the classroom.

"Well... I don't see why not." Mrs. Perigrew replied.

Angelica followed Ms. Sullivan outside, while Eddy decided to keep close, just in case.

* * *

"So good to see you, child," Ms. Sullivan smirked at Angelica. "I've been watching over you for quite a while now."

Angelica looked a bit confused. "Okay...?" she replied.

"I'd like you to come with me." Ms. Sullivan said.

"What for?" Angelica asked.

"That amulet you have there looks very interesting," Ms. Sullivan smirked. "May I have a look at it?"

"Well... It's a family heirloom, actually," said Angelica. "It was from my father, before he... Well, passed on."

"So I see... Do you think I could look at it?" Ms. Sullivan asked as she tried to take the amulet away from Angelica.

"Actually... I don't think that would be a good idea." Angelica replied, backing away.

Eddy glared at the scene, before ducking behind a locker. "That tears it... It's total toadage time..." he muttered.

"Come here..." Ms. Sullivan told her. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"Go away!" Angelica cried out as she tried to back out, but her arm was grabbed.

"I will not be ignored!" Ms. Sullivan glared in a bit of a dark voice.

Eddy cleared his throat, and spoke the transformation phrase: "Let's get WARTY!" And in a bolt of green energy, he was transformed into Rash the BattleToad. "That lady's got me hopping mad." he remarked as he sprang into action.

"You!" Ms. Sullivan glared a bit. "I should've known this would happen."

Angelica dashed to run and hide behind the lockers for safety.

"Yeah, _me_," Rash remarked, flipping his shades. "I don't quite like it when folks pick on pretty ladies, for the record. 'Cuz that ticks me off."

Ms. Sullivan seemed to be gone suddenly.

"Hey, where'd she go?" Rash glared.

Eventually, the Dark Queen came to swipe away Angelica while her mutant minions came to attack Rash.

"Great..." Rash groaned. "I knew I shoulda called for back-up..."

"Let me go!" Angelica yelled, struggling against the Dark Queen's grasp.

Fortunately, in the midst of the struggle, a yellow-skinned hand pulled the fire alarm, which startled the Dark Queen and her mutant minions long enough for Angelica to slip away amidst the chaos.

"Heh, well, that was easy," Rash smirked. "Uh, you okay, Angelica?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay." Angelica said softly as she came towards him, smiling as she felt safe with him.

"So... Whaddya say we get outta here?" Rash asked. "Um, er... After all, the Dark Queen and her cronies could try to come after ya another time, but I won't let that happen."

"Oh, you're absolutely right," Angelica replied. "We must get to safety right away. Should we tell Zits and Pimple though?"

Rash thought for a little bit. "Hmm... Good idea," he replied. "I'll be sure to tell 'em while you get your bookbag."

"Thank you so much for your help." Angelica beamed before she kissed his cheek as she walked off to do as suggested to her.

Rash blushed to that before he used the wristwatch communicator that Professor T-Byrd gave him to contact Ed and Double D. "Guys, things have gone south," he then whispered. "We almost got jumped by the Dark Queen; we need to get Angelica outta here before she comes back with more goons."

"Way ahead of ya." Ed's voice said from right behind him.

"Lumpy? You pulled through?" Rash asked as he turned to see him.

"Who do ya think sent that Dark Queen away?" Ed smirked.

Rash smirked. "...Way to think on your feet, man." he replied.

"Thank me later," Ed replied. "We'll meet up behind the cafeteria and head to the van from there."

"Sounds good," Rash replied. "Tell Double D in case he doesn't get the message."

"Oh, no problem," Ed saluted like a soldier. "We got this."

Angelica soon came back over to the boys as she was ready.

"Alrighty then... Shall we go?" Rash asked, extending his hand to Angelica.

"We shall." Angelica smiled as she happily took his hand.

Ed watched them as he soon thought about Princess Candy yet again. "Man... If only I had a way to visit her..." he said to himself.

* * *

It was soon lunchtime at the school.

"So, who wants to trade for peanut butter and... More peanut butter?" Ambrose asked as he checked his sandwich.

Herschel took the sandwich and gobbled it up in a few bites.

"...At least he's eating well," LJ noted. "More than what can be said for most kids his age."

"Oh, for sure," Kimberly added. "I thought he was gonna eat a lunch tray for a minute."

"Luckily, he hasn't." LJ replied.

Chrissy was gracefully cutting her food a bit as she looked like an aristocrat.

"Must you be so fancy?" Jenny asked.

"Yes." Chrissy stated simply.

LJ shrugged. "If she wants to eat in a fancy manner, it's fine," he replied. "It's not hurting anyone."

"Hmph... You sound like my Grandma Marjorie," Jenny rolled her eyes slightly. "She's always trying to tell me to be a proper lady."

"Hey, you eat how you like, she eats how she likes," LJ replied. "Just saying."

A lot of the other girls of the school though seemed to really like Hershel so far.

"Looks like our new friend is Mr. Popular." Martin told the others.

"That appears to be a possibility." Kimberly replied.

"I just hope for Doug's sake that Patti doesn't feel the same way." Zofia whispered.

"Likewise." LJ nodded.

"Doug's new friend sure seems interesting." Beebe smirked eagerly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Patti shrugged a bit from that.

Guy rolled his eyes. "Aw, he's not so great." he remarked.

Double D began to leave the cafeteria which caught barely enough attention which was a good sign for him as he was asked to come meet Ed and Eddy sometime after they would eat lunch.

* * *

Ed, Eddy, Professor T. Byrd, and Angelica were outside, waiting for him with the van.

"Okay, guys, I'm here." said Double D as he came out the back of the cafeteria.

"Great, now everyone into the van," Eddy replied. "Pretty sure Ms. Sullivan's caught on."

"Please, please, do hurry." Professor T. Byrd reminded the three boys.

"We're comin'. We're comin'." Ed said as he rushed over with Eddy and Double D to the van.

Professor T. Byrd opened the doors for them so that they could get going as they reached a very urgent Code Red situation. Once they were all inside, Professor T. Byrd started the engines, and the van flew off into the sky.

"Well, now that queenie knows Angelica is at the school, we can't keep her there," said Eddy. "So we're gonna need a different place to hide her... And a way to ensure that they can't track her amulet."

"Where could we go though?" Double D asked. "I'm not sure where we could hide her if not here in this usually quiet little town."

"I'm gonna hafta think about that part..." Eddy replied, scratching his head.

"Right." Double D said.

"Surprised that Dark Queen caught on so quickly," Ed groaned. "You alright though, Angelica?"

"Yes, I'm fine as long as I have my warriors with me to protect me." Angelica smiled softly.

"Some warriors _we_ are," Eddy muttered, more at himself than the others. "If Monobrow hadn't pulled the fire alarm, we would've gotten our cans handed to us. Point is, we gotta train, learn to fight. Dumb luck will only help us for so long until we run out."

"You did a fine job already so far, but yes, you'll need some extra help so we can all keep Princess Angelica safe from the Dark Queen." Professor T. Byrd advised.

"I'm afraid Physical Education was never really my strongest subject." Double D spoke up nervously.

"Then we gotta find some way to learn how to be warriors," said Eddy. "Somehow... Someway..."

"I'll have to get in touch with someone to help train you boys," Professor T. Byrd advised. "Even if I have to search through other multiverses."

"We might even hafta partake in Xiaolin Showdowns..." Ed noted. "Guess that could be neat."

"I'll consider that if you boys think you could handle that." Professor T. Byrd asked.

"Ah, what could happen?" Ed smirked. "We can handle anything right about now."

"Maybe," Eddy said, not thinking about scams for once. "But for how long?"

"However long it might take." Ed narrowed his eyes.

"Well, I suppose I could have you boys visit the Xiaolin Temple, but it's not all fun and games," Professor T. Byrd advised. "It'll be a lot of hard work."

"Most things often are," Double D replied. "But... For the sake of Earth and all those who live here, we're willing."

"I'll have to get through to some contacts there of course," Professor T. Byrd told them. "You'll have to wait."

"I just hope we can keep Angelica safe for that long," Eddy replied. "I don't care if she's a chick, I ain't gonna let that damned Dark Queen anywhere near my princess."

"Oh, Eddy." Angelica beamed from that.

Eddy said nothing, only hugging her in response. Angelica blushed a bit from that as Eddy also seemed to blush.

"I shall call Master Fung." Professor T. Byrd told them.

"Who's that?" Ed asked.

"The Xiaolin Warrior's Master, trainer, and guide," Professor T. Byrd replied. "And of course, he will be your new colleague once I'm able to get a hold of him."

The Eds looked at each other.

"Alright then..." said Ed. "But we might need to get a few others first... Who could also use the training? Might hafta stop in Udrogoth for a little."

The others looked at him with that suggestion.

"Udrogoth... I'll take a look into that, Ed." Professor T. Byrd replied.

Ed gave a quiet nod at that, though we know that their plotline would be continued another time.


	9. Chapter 9

Back at the school, everybody shared Valentines with each other, though Herschel seemed to have a big pile on his desk which made him feel a bit flattered.

"Boy... All the girls here are taking to Herschel like ducks to water," LJ remarked. "But at least this way he should be safe from those creepy spy guys lurking outside Doug's house."

"Works for me," Zofia replied. "You and Kimberly did a great job though to keep an eye on him though."

"Really?" Kimberly smiled from her approval. "You really think so?"

"Of course," Zofia replied. "You guys did great. I'm really impressed."

LJ beamed at that, hugging Kimberly. "We made pretty good parents, I reckon!" he proclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess we did," Kimberly smiled with a bit of a blush. "Maybe we could try it a little later in the future if you know what I mean." she then suggested with a bashful whisper.

"Sure," LJ replied. "Sounds good to me."

"I look forward to it too." Kimberly chuckled bashfully.

"Guess I don't get this whole love thing," Jenny shrugged. "I've never been in love. Guess that's just how tomboys roll."

"Pretty sure you're being a tomboy wrong if you think that all tomboys do are not think things are cute and you're more superior than anybody else." Martin said to his sister.

"Yeah," replied Raul. "Your mom was a tomboy, but she fell for Uncle Og."

"So if I find a baby animal cute, it's not weird?" Jenny asked.

"Why do tomboys just think because they find an animal cute that it's weird?" Kimberly rolled her eyes. "LJ and Zofia's mom finds stuff cute and she's, I think they called, gothic."

"Exactly!" Raul replied.

"Just cuz you're a tomboy doesn't mean you have to cut yourself off from thinking things are cute." Martin replied.

"Hmm..." Jenny paused thoughtfully.

"Great work with Herman though," Martin said. "I didn't think it would work 100% to be honest."

"Well, thanks," LJ replied. "We tried our best."

"Yeah, it's great." Martin smiled as he made a Valentine to get in the spirit.

"The island have Valentine's Day?" Ambrose asked.

"We have something called Love Fest," Martin shrugged indifferently. "Sorta like how All Food Stuff's Eve is like Thanksgiving."

"Ah, I see." Ambrose replied with a nod.

"I just thought I'd get in the spirit of the holiday." Martin smiled bashfully.

"And that's okay." Raul said with emphasis for Jenny.

"If you say so." Jenny replied.

"So... How long do we plan to keep up this Herschel act?" Ambrose asked LJ and Kimberly. "I doubt Doug and Skeeter could go to graduation with him."

"Just as long as we need to," LJ replied. "As soon as we can be certain he is truly safe, then it'll be over."

"You guys sure are smart to think like that," Ambrose remarked. "Then again, he did choose your parents for these adventures for a pretty good reason."

"Mm-hmm," LJ nodded. "Pays to have all the bases covered."

"I just know this," Skeeter said as he came over with Doug. "We can't hide Herman in our houses."

"It's not safe there." Ambrose told Skeeter and Doug as they left school.

"See ya, Herschel." Beebe smiled dreamily as the "foreign exchange student" left the school grounds.

"See ya tomorrow." Connie added as she stood with Beebe.

"At least he's popular," Ambrose rolled his bi-colored eyes. "Shinji would eat that up."

"Either that or try to humiliate him," LJ replied. "Cuz only HE gets to be popular."

"Tell me about it," Ambrose scoffed. "I'd love to turn him into a toad just to make him shut up, but he's always like 'I'm telling my mother! Raaawr!'."

"What a baby." LJ snorted.

* * *

In the Other Realm, Shinji sneezed.

"Dear, are you all right?" Enchantra asked as she came by.

"Yes, Mother," replied Shinji. "I could've sworn someone was talking about me, though."

"Oh... Why wouldn't they talk about you though?" Enchantra smiled a bit. "You're a Warlock Prince."

"Yes, I am..." Shinji smirked a bit. "I'll be the best Warlock King there is when I grow up!" he then mumbled a bit. "Before Atticus decided to change up the Witch's Council after Drell appointed him with the job."

* * *

Back with the group, they had finished their school day.

"So, what do we do with Herman?" Chrissy soon asked.

"There's only one thing left to do," Skeeter advised. "We have to get him back to the lake before Mr. Bluff gets him."

"No!" Kimberly cried out as she did not want to say goodbye to Herman.

"I know we don't wanna let him go, but we're gonna hafta sometime," LJ replied. "This is the hardest part of every parent's life... I assume."

"It certainly feels hard right now." Kimberly's voice cracked like she was about to cry.

LJ hugged her gently.

"I'll take him, get your camping gear and meet us there." Skeeter said to Doug and the others.

"Whatever, okay, right, yeah." Doug mumbled softly.

"Come on, Doug, we gotta do this, man." Skeeter told his best friend.

"Yeah, I know." Doug replied as they crossed the street, passing by the crossing guard as he stopped a car for them.

* * *

Later that evening, LJ and the others were with Doug and Skeeter, in the forest near Lucky Duck Lake.

"Oh, it sure is cold tonight. Hey Herman, can you hand me some wood?" Skeeter asked.

Martin gave him some.

"Well, we're back where we started." Skeeter replied, adding the fuel for the flames.

"Only everyone thinks we're liars and Patti hates me," Doug moaned. "but other than that, yes, we're right back where we started."

"At least Herman won't be in danger anymore." stated LJ.

"I guess..." Kimberly pouted from that.

They then heard something which made them jump a little.

"Woolly Mountain Elephant!" Raul cried out.

"Not that story again." Jenny face-palmed.

"It came from over there." Elyse said as she pointed at the bushes.

They went over to the bushes and brushed away part of them to reveal the fake monster costume used by Roger and his gang to scare Skeeter.

"What is it?" asked Chrissy, wearing a fuzzy lavender parka and matching earmuffs.

"I guess those guys were in a pretty big hurry the other night..." Skeeter replied.

There was a light roar then heard.

"Herman, no, that's way too big!" Akito cried out as the monster took out a tree to roast over the fire.

"Too big!" Doug added. "Little sticks, tiny little."

"Maybe we'd better get him back in the water." Skeeter suggested.

"Yeah." Doug replied.

"This is it, buddy, time to get in the water Herman, c'mon." Skeeter suggested as he and Doug tried to move Herman into the lake.

"C'mon, Herman, back in the water c'mon," Doug added, though Herman didn't budge. "What's the matter?"

"Hmm... Maybe he wants us to swim with him?" Estelle suggested.

"Dudes, I don't think that's a good idea," replied LJ.

"Take off your pants." Doug said to Skeeter.

"Must be a Bobsheaux!" remarked Raul, and a tiny fanfare was heard.

"Me? You take off _your_ pants!" retorted Skeeter.

"It's too cold, anyway," said Doug. "Let's just pretend like we're swimming."

"Just keep swimming," Akito advised as he jumped into the lake regardless. "Bonzai!"

"You got a death wish or something?" asked LJ. "That lake is ice-cold!"

Akito smirked. "Superpowers, remember?"

LJ rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever..."

"Ooh... It's a little hot now..." Akito said, a bit sickly.

Vincent reached his hand into the water before he yelled out in pain like his hand was burning as he took his hand out and looked a bit sick too.

"Don't you wanna swim with us, Herman?" Doug asked the monster before Herman tossed the tree away which accidentally hit Doug's sleeve, cutting his arm a bit. "Ah! Hey!"

"Herman, what are you doing?" Skeeter glared slightly. "You hurt Doug!"

"Stop it, you big fish!" Doug glared as he was frustrated which upset Herman now. "I'm glad we're getting rid of you, you're nothing but bad news! You lost me the only person I ever cared about and now I wish-"

"Hey! Look, guys! Wow!" Skeeter pointed out as the tree landed in the lake and seemed to be boiling up from the lake's pollution. "No wonder he didn't want us to go there."

"No wonder it felt a little hot..." Akito said as he came out of the water as he looked hot and dizzy now.

"It hurts too..." Vincent added.

"It's hurting you?" Doug asked from confusion and surprise.

"Because the lake is polluted, knuckle-heads!" LJ replied. "That's why Herman didn't want to go in!"

Akito cupped his mouth before he dashed off behind a tree and threw up.

"Gosh... I guess pollution's really bad for those guys." Skeeter said.

"It's from our mother's side of the family," Vincent told him. "She has a real touch with nature if you know what I mean."

"I toldja it was a bad idea jumpin' in that lake!" LJ remarked, getting annoyed like Doraemon. "What were you THINKIN'?! Oh wait, ya WEREN'T!"

"LJ, he feels bad enough as it is." Kimberly told him a bit softly.

Akito looked like he could die right now while Vincent bandaged his hand that was singed from the pollution.

LJ sighed. "I'm... I'm sorry, man. I just don't want you gettin' yourself killed or nuthin'," he sighed. "And I don't think Emi would want that either. Come on, Herman, let's get him back to the RV. I got a couple of Senzu Beans in the secret compartment in my bedroom."

Herman nodded and picked up Akito, over his shoulder.

"Well, he brought it out on himself for showing off like that." Chrissy huffed.

"Chrissy!" Kimberly scolded.

"Well, he did," Chrissy glared. "Those Fudo kids are always showing off like the rest of us are all worth nuthin'."

"Sure he's a show-off... And a putz... But he's _still_ family," LJ replied firmly. "And I wouldn't be much of a cousin if I didn't make the effort to try and save him from his own stupid blunder. Hell, I'd probably be as much of a showoff as him if things had turned out differently. He just needs to learn how to be humble, is all," He gently patted Akito. "Sh-sh-sh... It's alright; you're gonna be okay, cous. Just hang in there." he said quietly.

Akito curled up as he looked very sick.

"Will he be okay?" Kimberly asked.

"The Sensu Beans should help," LJ told her. "I guess the Fudos just can't get sick naturally, and just with pollution or stuff like that with their special genetics."

"Well, I hope so," Kimberly said. "He looks really bad."

"All the more reason to get him home as fast as possible," LJ replied, as Chrissy felt a bit guilty from what she'd said earlier.

"I don't think you'll have that chance." said Bill Bluff, as he emerged from the woods.

"Herman, pass Akito to me and run!" LJ told him.

Herman tossed LJ his cousin and bolted, but he was blocked by two of Mr. Bluff's agents.

"Oh, no!" Chrissy gasped a bit from that.

Herman tried to run for his life wherever he could go, though a net was shot at him which seemed to be the end for him.

"Herman!" Doug and Skeeter cried out as they ran towards the monster to help him.

"This'll knock him out for a while." said one agent as he injected Herman with a needle.

"**LEAVE HIM ALONE!**" LJ shouted.

Doug and Skeeter couldn't bear to watch as Herman fell unconscious.

"Get him outta here." Bill told his goon squad, and they dragged Herman away.

"You can't do this!" Skeeter exclaimed.

"Quiet, you," snapped Bill. "I don't wanna hear anything from you. If I hear one more peep, it's gonna... You're gonna be so... Bob?" he turned to one of his agents.

"Let's just say it won't be pretty for you." replied Bob.

"Right!" Bill nodded. "You kids decided you were gonna make me look bad. I have friends at your school... You all could be in middle school for a long time to come! If you know what's good for ya, you'll forget everything that happened here tonight!"

"Gosh..." Elyse and Ambrose gulped.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Chrissy sighed a bit.

"Darn rich people..." Vincent grumbled.

"Isn't your girlfriend rich?" Martin asked him.

"Not the point." Vincent replied.

* * *

And so, the group was forced to retreat to the RV.

"You may have won the battle..." LJ scowled. "...But the war _will_ be mine."

"Babies?" Cherry's voice called.

LJ's eyes widened slightly.

"Are you all okay?" Cherry asked. "My mother senses sense trouble. I picked those up from Nicole Watterson."

LJ sighed. "...Well, better late than never," he replied. And so, he explained the entire story to his mother.

* * *

"...And now, Herman is gonna get killed tomorrow night!" LJ then finished. "Also, Akito needs a Sensu Bean 'cuz he was in that polluted lake." He then put his cousin on the sofa, then began rummaging through the cupboard until he found a small cloth sack. Reaching two fingers inside, he fished out a Senzu Bean.

"You're lucky that he's still alive," Cherry said. "I thought maybe you kids were up to something. I used to get into crazy stuff like this all the time when I was about your age."

"We know, Mother." replied Zofia as LJ put the bean in Akito's mouth.

"You okay, Vince?" Cherry asked.

"I think I'll be okay now," Vincent said as he put ice on his pollution-based burn. "Don't tell Mom about this. She'd just freak out."

"Yes," Cherry agreed from that. "She grew up on the streets, that life was dangerous enough before she got adopted with her long-lost brother and sister from Camp Everfree. This'll just be between us and maybe my story diary for novel ideas."

"Fair enough, Aunt Cherry," Vincent said. "I just hope that Herman will be alright."

Akito had eaten the bean and was soon back to his regular self.

"Good, you're okay," LJ replied. "Which means I get to do _**THIS!**_" he picked up a wooden chair and smashed it over Akito's head; naturally, his powers protected him from being injured in any way.

"Look, if this is about me jumping in that lake, I was just trying to show Herman that it would be safe to swim in." Akito said, unfazed by the chair smashing.

"Yeah, and lookit where _that_ got'cha! Nearly **DEAD!**" LJ retorted. "You got no idea how worried I wuz! Next time, look before ya leap... LITERALLY! Or else I'll knock some sense inta that noggin o' yours!"

"You wanna settle this over an arm-wrestle?" Akito glared.

"Easy!" Cherry called out.

"Come here, Cous... Just you and me!" Akito glared as he stood up on the couch to tower over LJ. "I won't go easy just 'cuz we're family!"

"Good, Mr. Big-Shot!" LJ retorted. "If ya _did_, I'd think you wuz mockin' me! It's high time somebody knocked you down a few thousand pegs _and_ got your ego under control!"

"Cut it out!" Cherry called out.

"I don't have an ego!" Akito glared at LJ. "All you ever do is act out to get attention! I try to be nice to you, but you act like a real Jerk Chicken over the littlest things just because I take a lot after my dad!"

LJ clenched his fists. "You should've had enough common sense to not jump in that lake..." he replied, as he shook. "I was actually scared that you were going to DIE, cuz you acted too quickly!"

"Okay, I think that's enough..." Cherry tried to settle the boys down. "You're both very tired and should go to bed right now."

"Why don't you just get out of my face?!" Akito snapped as he punched LJ in the eye without thinking.

LJ flew across the room and smacked into the wall, out like a light.

"Okay, we're gonna need a fresh roll of TP-" Lionel started as he exited the restroom, only to see LJ, lying unconscious, and a monster of a black eye forming where he'd been punched. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

Akito breathed heavily before he softened up to see what he had done.

"Akito Benjamin Fudo!" Cherry scolded her godnephew.

"I... I... I just wanna be a normal kid... Sometimes I wish I never had these stupid powers!" Akito soon cried out as he ran out the door and cried as he ran far, far into the forest.

Lionel went over and picked up his unconscious son. "Well... What a revoltin' development this is turning out to be..." he sighed.

"Should one of us go after him?" asked Ambrose, referring to Akito.

"I don't wanna mess with him," Raul said. "That was like the Hulk or something..."

"He'll come back later," Cherry advised. "He just needs some time to cool down. Senior, how's Junior?" she then asked her husband as LJ seemed to be having a rough time.

Kimberly and Chrissy both pouted worriedly for LJ.

"It ain't lookin' good," Lionel replied. "That punch had some serious power behind it... Let's get him to bed. And as for Akito... Well, hopefully, he comes back in a few hours. Superpowers or not, no child should be outside in these temperatures."

"I'm sorry you all had to see that." Cherry told the others.

"You seem a bit unfazed, Mrs. Schwartz..." Jenny said. "You _do_ care, right?"

"Of course I do, I'm concerned," Cherry replied. "I've just seen this happen before, especially with Atticus when his powers took control and his anger got the better of him a couple of times at school, especially against bullies. I'm not saying LJ or Akito are bullies, but... I sorta saw this coming. I tried to stop it though."

As Lionel carried LJ to bed, Cherry followed him. The others decided to get ready for bed afterwards, hoping that Akito would eventually cool off and come back. And he _did_... A few hours after everyone else had gone to sleep, except for Lionel, at least.

* * *

Akito eventually came back to the RV, stretching a bit with a yawn as he climbed inside to get some sleep.

"You know... It's funny," Lionel told him, without looking up. "For all his bluster about your so-called ego, LJ actually looks up to ya. He once told me you were like the older brother he never had. I wasn't there when that lake thing went down, but from what I heard, he was only angry at you because he was concerned for your well-being."

"We were helping Herman, so I was doing the same." Akito grumbled as he hugged his knees while sitting.

"I won't force you to apologize, because that wouldn't mean anything," Lionel replied. "I'll let you decide if you want to apologize or not, but he cares about you... More than he lets on. You are to him what Human Torch is to Thing: you might get on each other's nerves, but you'd go the extra mile to ensure each other's safety," he then got up from the table. "What I do know is that Herman needs the both of you, and he wouldn't want you two at each other's throats like a pair of rabid animals. So... Whatever issues you have on your plates, I suggest that the both of you get them settled so you may put your heads together in order to save him." he added as he went to take a shower, leaving Akito to think about his words.

Akito nodded, he didn't say anything, but he just sat there.

* * *

Cherry sat by as she waited for Lionel to hear what happened as Akito seemed to be struggling from his little spat with LJ.

"He'll make the right decision," Lionel said. "I'm sure of it."

"Akito was always like his father," Cherry remarked. "Um, adventure wise that is."

"I'm aware..." Lionel nodded as he went into the restroom. "Hopefully the boys can settle this beef between them."

* * *

Meanwhile, Akito was walking to the guest bedroom until he bumped into someone.

"My bad, I couldn't see you, I was going to get a drink." The person replied as he took out his flashlight and turned it on. "...Akito? You... You came back?" LJ asked in surprise.

"Yeah..." Akito said. "I guess I got mad at you for no good reason... It just felt like though you were knocking me like I was some sort of daredevil idiot like Dick Daring or Kick Buttowski."

"What? No!" LJ gasped in shock. "Man, you're not stupid! You just... Acted too quickly, is all. But I shouldn't have blown my top like that, it was a dopey move."

"Yeah... I really should've paid more attention," Akito replied. "Be lucky that wasn't Estelle. She loves to swim the most out of all of us, then I just had to get myself sick. Uh, how's your eye? I could fix that for you if you want."

"Sure, man," LJ replied with a smile. "Go for it. About what I said... I'm sorry. I guess I have a little self-loathing, cuz I'll never be as good as you; kinda like how Vegeta kept coming in second to Goku, but I guess if I can't be as good as you, I can at least aim for something more achievable, and that's being the best that I can."

"Sometimes I wish I could be normal..." Akito said before he cast a healing spell from his Wiccan magic to heal LJ's bruised eye.

"Yeah, I know..." LJ replied as his eye was repaired. "But sometimes, what you want ain't always whatcha need."

"I've heard of that too," Akito said. "Also, it looks like we might be visiting Ash and Emi sometime soon, so if you wanna come, you can. I've so far heard of a camping outing to the Volcanion lands with them, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie."

LJ smiled. "You know... I reckon I'd like that a LOT." he replied, his eyes alight with tears. And so he gave his cousin a big bear-hug (or in his case, an Ursaring-hug).

Akito gave a small smile from the hug. Cherry glanced out the window as she watched the two and hid a very small smile that the two were able to make amends.

Finally, LJ broke off the hug and wiped his eyes. "Okay, let's recap what we know: Herman's been captured, right?" he asked.

"Right." Akito replied.

"So let's think about what we know of Bill Bluff: he's an egotistical kinda guy," said LJ. "If he was gonna get rid of Herman, he'd do so in a way that would make him seem like some kind of hero... In front of lots and lots of people."

"Hmm... So he'll probably try to go on TV or have this published in the newspaper." Akito said with some help from his detective skills that he got from his father.

"Right," nodded LJ. "But he'll have to make sure lots of people see it... At a huge gathering, like... Tomorrow's Valentine's dance!"

"That scumbag!" Akito glared. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was one of Uncle Planet's old enemies!"

"I wouldn't blame you," replied LJ. "So we have to put our noggins together and come up with a plan!"

"Yeah, we have to stop him somehow..." Akito stopped to think. "I feel like I need a dance."

* * *

Some random colorful music began to play as the background turned solid blue with some singing.

"NOODLE! Use your noodle~," The song sang while Akito tried to dance to it. "NOODLE! Do the noodle dance~"

LJ bobbed around on the heels of his feet for a few minutes, until... "AHA!" he exclaimed. "I got it!"

"Yeah?" Akito smiled hopefully.

"We need some sort of decoy," replied LJ. "To take Herman's place while we sneak in and rescue him."

"Hmm..." Akito paused a bit.

"Can I help? Can I help?" Tyraniter asked as he came out to see Akito.

"You?" Akito replied with a small laugh. "I dunno, buddy. We'll have to see about that."

"Well, we might need the Sleech brothers to help." LJ replied.

"Who?" asked Akito.

"Those two nerdy kids in Doug's class." replied LJ.

"Sleech... That sounds like a rejected Dr. Seuss character," Akito remarked. "Well, if they're smart enough, we'll put them to good use."

"Oh, most definitely," LJ nodded. "We can let the others know tomorrow, and then we'll be good to go."

"For sure," Akito said from that. "Ya know, we make a pretty good partnership. Maybe when I become a detective superhero when I grow up, you could be the Watson to my Superman Sherlock Holmes."

"I suppose," LJ replied. "It could be interesting."

"Sometime after I marry Emi." Akito blushed.

"You really like that girl, huh?" LJ asked.

"I really do," Akito replied. "There's no other girl like her that I had ever met which I truly admire."

"Well... Good on ya, man," LJ smiled. "Maybe before then, I'll be able to become a great hero, like the Maximals or the Super Robot Monkey Team!"

"Guess we kinda have similar dreams." Akito chuckled.

"Pretty funny how life can work that way, isn't it?" LJ replied. "Maybe we could have those adventures together!"

"It'd be pretty nice," Akito said. "Don't get me wrong, I love Vincent and Estelle, but having adventures with just them all the time is a little stale, so I like to branch out to meet new people whenever I can. I'd like to meet Dad's colleague Detective Charlie Chan, he has a ton of kids. That kid Henry looks like he could bench a bunch of pounds."

"Huh..." LJ replied. "Well, alright then, bro. Glad to have you aboard."

"Good to be here." Akito smiled as they shook hands from that.

"Alright... You wanna get some water before you catch some Z's?" LJ asked. "My treat."

"That sounds good," Akito said as he stretched a little. "Just remember if I'm gone if you wake up tomorrow, it's because I'm out for my jog before breakfast."

"Well... Maybe I'll come with you this time." LJ replied.

"Hmm... You sure?" Akito asked. "I get up pretty early."

"That's fair," LJ shrugged. "I'm used to that sort of thing."

"Well, all right, just be prepared," Akito replied. "I do this every morning. Sometimes if Dad's in a good enough mood, I can do it with him, but sometimes I gotta let him sleep. I'm sure detective work is a handful."

"It really seems like one." LJ replied.

"Yeah, I swear he was very busy when I was a kid," Akito sighed. "He's still busy these days, but I guess since I'm a bit older now, I kinda get it, so I don't feel as bad when he has to work a lot. I do love the time I get to spend with him though."

"Yeah... I like spending time with my dad, too," replied LJ. "At least, when he and Mom aren't working on new books."

"Seems like that's what they're up to these days," Akito said as he put his hands in his pockets. "I just know that you shouldn't ask for too much of Aunt Cherry if she's too in the zone with a book idea."

"That's undeniable." LJ nodded as they went to the kitchen.

Akito reached out to get them the glasses of water.

"So, uh, pollution makes you sick, huh?" LJ asked.

"Yes," Akito replied. "It could make me, my brother, and sister very sick and even kill us since we have a special gene from Mom's birth family that come with the Forces of Nature powers she and Vincent both have. Estelle and I mostly have Dad's genetics, though I have both strength and magic while Estelle mostly has the magic and Mom's healing powers. Too much pollution can be very fatal for us."

"Just like with Captain Planet," LJ remarked. "Although his other weakness is pure evil... Case in point, Hitler."

"Pretty much, yeah," Akito said as he held out a glass of water for LJ. "Hopefully it all works out alright for Herman by tomorrow."

"Maybe." LJ replied as he got one for Akito and drank his.

"Cheers." Akito said as they clinked glasses before he took a sip with LJ.

* * *

Eventually, they finished their waters and went to bed.

"Night, buddy." Akito smiled sleepily.

"See ya." LJ replied.

The two then came to their respective beds to get some sleep after a pretty big day with Herman.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, LJ and Akito got up early and followed Doug and Skeeter to Al and Moo's place.

"His name is seriously 'Moo'?" Akito asked on the way. "I remember when Aunt Cherry used to call me 'Atiko' all the time. That was really aggravating."

The doorbell was rung which had identical twin boys get the door.

"You must be Al and Moo," Akito said to the twins. "Twin geniuses... You'd think I'd meet those by now."

"Alright, guys," replied Skeeter. "C'mon, we got work to do."

"Come right this way." Al welcomed.

"Our home is your home, as long as you don't carry germs." Moo added.

"Uh, thanks," Akito said as they came inside. "I hope you guys are smart enough to help out, though I'm sure you are."

"We only have a few hours left," said Doug. "We hafta save a life, so it's important to make sure we get everything right."

"LJ and I thought of maybe using a decoy." Akito spoke up.

Eventually, the group had formulated a plan.

"Well, that's it," Doug sighed. "We better get going and hope we do it right."

"Wait a minute," said Skeeter. "Oh, no!"

"Uh, what's up, Skeeter?" Akito asked with concern.

"Even if we get Herman Melville free, what are we going to do with him?" Skeeter asked. "We can't take him back to the lake."

"That's right, it's totally polluted." Doug agreed as he remembered.

At that point, Porkchop seemed to be pointing at something on a map of Bluffington.

"What is it?" asked LJ.

"I believe your canine friend is pointing to something on the map." stated Al.

Doug took a look before beaming from that. "Porkchop, you're a genius!"

"What is it?" Skeeter asked curiously.

"Funkytown is next to Lucky Duck Lake, but there's a back entrance and it leads to Crystal Lake and that's where we're taking Herman," Doug replied as he pointed on the map to what his dog saw. "We know what to do, let's go."

"Right." LJ and Akito nodded.

"SUPER! ROBOT! MONKEY! TEAM! HYPER! FORCE! GO!" LJ exclaimed triumphantly.

"...Huh?" The twin brothers asked.

"It's a long story," Akito told them. "Let him have his moment."

LJ hummed to himself as he walked out the door.

"We'll talk to you later," Akito smiled at the brothers. "Thanks for all your help."

"It was our pleasure." Al replied.

"Come back soon!" Moo added from that.

* * *

Eventually, LJ and the others had arrived at Funkytown, where everyone else was dancing at the disco. The band was playing "Deep Deep Water", and Bill's agents were standing guard with their laser rifles.

"8:14," Doug said as they synchronized their watches. "Ready and mark."

Al pushed a button his watch then.

"What did you just push?" Doug asked him.

"This cool light." Al replied as he showed a bright light on his watch.

Akito hid an eye roll from that.

"Jenny?" Vincent asked hopefully as he saw a limo ride up, but saw a certain school bully instead of his girlfriend. "Aww... Never mind."

Chrissy looked sick to her stomach as she came by as Roger seemed to check her out as she wore her Talent Star clothes with her Dazzlings' pendant. LJ gave a primal growl at that.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Roger smirked. "You must be one of the new girls. Name's Roger Klotz, the First."

LJ clutched the bridge of his nose. "Don't kill him... Don't kill him... Don't kill him..." he murmured to himself.

Chrissy rolled her eyes.

"Missy, is it?" Roger asked.

"Chrissy," The blonde girl corrected. "Look, I'm a little busy right now."

"Yeah, you should be here with me." Roger smirked as he took her arm.

"Look, buddy, she said to leave her alone," Zofia told Roger. "You should go before you regret meeting her."

Roger snorted. "Oh, yeah? And who's gonna _make_ me?" he asked smugly. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm filthy-stinkin'-loaded!"

"Oh, you're loaded with something, alright." Chrissy muttered.

"We're just not exactly sure _what_ you're loaded with." Kimberly hid a sly smirk.

"Ooh! Kimberly!" Ambrose laughed a bit from that.

"Go back to your pool, Shallow Water." Chrissy grumbled at Roger.

Roger scoffed. "Ah, who needs ya? I got other girls who'd be beggin' to dance with yours truly!" he replied as he walked off.

* * *

At that point, Doug and the others walked inside, dressed in formal wear. Doug looked up and saw the guards up at the top, and then he spotted Skeeter near the punch bowl, talking to another kid.

"My, this is certainly good punch, eh Elmo?" The kid asked before he looked towards Doug.

Doug gave him a brisk nod, and Skeeter went outside to the delivery area.

"Excuse me, Mr. Guard, sir?" The pale boy asked the guard. "I'm expecting a truck to come over from Bluffco in a few minutes."

The guard looked at his clipboard. "Nope, no trucks due tonight."

"You're sure there's not one parked nearby?" asked Skeeter. "Gonna pull up at 8:30? Kinda big, smells fishy? No? Maybe I'll just wait and see."

Akito glanced over as Roger seemed to have sort of robot trouble. "I'd like to see that thing against the Jetsons' robot maid." he then said to Estelle.

"No kidding." Estelle replied as she drank some punch.

* * *

"I'm telling you, I got royally jinxed," Roger complained at the Sleech brothers. "I demand that you make this thing leave me alone."

"No problem, Roger." Al replied.

"Why didn't you ask?" Moo added before commanding the robot. "RoboCrusher: 46-21."

The robot then powered down a bit from that command.

"Well, it's about time. Hmph!" Roger scoffed as he stormed off from that.

Al turned on his communicator watch. "Phase one complete."

* * *

"Roger." replied Doug, as Roger came over to the exact place he was.

"What?" The school bully asked.

"Uh... Nice jacket?" Doug replied, attempting to save face.

"Yeah, right," Roger remarked, throwing off the jacket he'd come with and walking off.

It was now 8:27. Patti was looking around the room for someone until she seemed to spot Doug, but then Guy stepped in front of her, dressed in formal wear.

"Hey, looking for someone?" Guy asked, in a cornball manner.

Patti jumped a little bit. "Oh, Guy; you scared me." she laughed, much to Doug's annoyance.

Back outside, Skeeter was still waiting. "Are you sure nothing supposed to shop up around 8:30? From BluffCo?" he asked.

"Nope, they made their delivery hours ago." replied the guard.

"Oh." Skeeter replied. But then he gasped, as it began to dawn on him.

Back inside, Patti noticed that the Valentine's Day dance didn't have very much dancing included. "Nobody's dancing; maybe we should go out and break the ice?" she asked.

"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Guy exclaimed. "Only... Let's wait a couple minutes."

"Why?" asked Patti.

"Because I _said_ so," Guy snapped harshly, but then he changed his tone. "I mean, let's just wait, over here, please?" he said as he took Patti aside to a nearby table.

Doug looked grumpy as Guy dragged Patti away before he got a call suddenly.

"Herman's already here." Skeeter alerted Doug, Akito, and LJ.

"What?!" The three gasped from that.

"They already got Herman here someplace," Skeeter replied as he rushed to the dancefloor. "Look around quick."

"8:30!" Moo gasped at his twin brother.

"He must be right in the middle of everything." Al suggested.

LJ spotted the agents getting into position to open fire on... "...The HEART!" he realized.

* * *

Doug looked nervously to Patti and Guy, and then to the giant paper-mache heart that was on a table in the middle of the room. With a sigh, he turned and headed towards the heart with LJ.

"I keep seeing this girl in my dreams, but I'm not sure who she is or if I'll ever find her," Ambrose sighed a bit. "I guess it's just a mystery."

"...Well, at least he got over his crush on Melissa Joan Hart." Raul said to his cousins.

"Uh-huh!" The Mazinsky twins nodded in relief from that.

"Guys, time for action!" LJ told the others as he and Doug got to the table with the heart and began wheeling it out.

"What's he doing?" asked Guy.

"The hour is approaching," said an agent as he got ready to fire. "Hold your fire, get these kids out of the way."

Doug and LJ kept wheeling out the heart, when suddenly it began to crack.

"No, Herman; stay! Stay!" Doug told Herman.

But he broke open the heart instead, and LJ had to grab him and make a run for the exit.

"Go! Go! Go!" Akito told them.

"You got it!" LJ replied as he rushed off with Doug.

The robot soon stomped out with the decoy monster disguise, away from the Sleech brothers which scared away some of the other students. The Bluff agents called out as they shot at the robot to "take down the beast". As quickly as he could, LJ made sure to activate Herman's hard-light image projector, which turned him back into Herschel and allowed LJ and Doug to sneak out the back, with Kimberly and the others trailing behind. Akito gave two thumb's up to LJ as he did a great job.

"Mystery Girl, whoever you are, I promise we'll be together soon, but I must go help my friends." Ambrose told himself as he dashed off after the others.

"Has anyone seen the Eds?" Elyse asked.

"They left some time ago, weren't you reading their subplot?" Raul replied.

"Oh, yeah." Elyse said bashfully.

"They might not be back for awhile." added Martin as they headed to the lake.

"My goodness, a crazed monster!" Guy called out as they left. "Thank goodness I alerted Mr. Bluff's agents in time to protect the citizens of Bluffington!"

The others rolled their eyes a bit from that.

* * *

Herschel followed the others out to the docks as they came to the lake without being detected, as they thought.

"Here you go, Herman, it's clean water!" Skeeter told Herman on the way to the water. "Go, go!"

"This is it, Herman, you have to go," Doug added. "Now, hurry, before they get here."

"Home! This is your new home!" Skeeter said as LJ and Kimberly sniffled a little.

Herman grabbed Doug, Skeeter, LJ, and Kimberly and gave them a bear-hug.

"Aww... We'll miss you too..." Kimberly said emotionally. "I didn't think it would be this sad to let go."

"It can be sometimes." LJ said to her.

"Not now, Herman," Doug groaned from the tight hug. "Not now."

A bright light flashed on as the Bluff agents were there.

"There it is!"

"You five, freeze!"

"GO!" Skeeter called out.

"Alright!" Doug added. "Go, Herman! Go!"

Herman soon let go of them and took that time to dive into the lake as Bill Bluff rushed over to the scene. "Where is it?!" he exclaimed.

"The monster's in the lake, Mr. Bluff, 10 miles long and five miles wide," replied Skeeter. "You're welcome to start looking."

"Too late, bub; your monster took a major powder," LJ added. "You'll never get him."

Mr. Bluff seethed with rage. "_You_!" he exclaimed. "You kids must think you're pretty smart... Well, we'll see how smart you are when I get through with you! Because from now on, I will dedicate every waking hour to making the rest of your days, a living, writhing, pain-wracked nightmare!"

"You wanna say that out loud for the news, sir?" Kimberly glared as she tried to be brave.

"Daddy, knock it off." Beebe scolded as she soon came towards her father with Elyse.

"But Sugar Pie, I was just trying-" Mr. Bluff said to her.

"Doug and Skeeter are my friends, such as they are, if you have something to tell _them_, please discuss it with _me_." Beebe interrupted firmly.

"But Beebekins, honey, I-" Mr. Bluff tried to tell her, but looked surprised as a certain woman soon came over.

"Bill, I think you should discuss your pollution problems, with me." Mrs. Dink advised with a calm smile.

"Mayor Dink!" Mr. Bluff gasped before looking nervous. "Oh, yes, of course, certainly, certainly."

"Meanwhile, it's cold out here, shouldn't you kids be inside dancing?" Mrs. Dink then suggested to Doug, Skeeter, LJ, and Kimberly.

"Well... Okay," LJ replied. "Any more time out here and we might win the Icicle of the Year awards..."

"I'm really sorry about Herman, you guys." Elyse said as she came towards the quartet.

"Oh, that's alright, El," Kimberly said softly. "Did you just get here?"

"I told Beebe what her father was doing." Elyse explained.

"Thanks, E," LJ smiled. "You really pulled our tails out of the fire... Not to mention you helped save Herman. And for that, I will always be grateful."

"I owe it all to my good friends who saved me from Wayside School." Elyse smiled back.

"Ah... Shucks," LJ replied. "Still... Herman was like a son to me, just like Chomper. I'll miss him, but at least I know he's happy."

"I'll miss him a lot too," Kimberly agreed softly. "It's better this way though."

"And there's nothing that says we can't visit him here," LJ added, glancing at the picture in his hand. "I just wish we could've gotten one altogether: you, me, and Herschel/Herman, one big happy family."

"It would've been great," Kimberly smiled. "From Herman/Herschel to Chomper, you would make a wonderful father."

"Thanks, and you'd be an amazing mother." LJ replied as he hugged her.

Kimberly smiled as they shared a hug. The others smiled emotionally all around from what happened. Patti was shown to be by the other side of the lake.

"Go talk to her." Elyse suggested to Doug.

"Uh, okay," Doug replied as he decided to go see the girl he liked. "Patti, I've been trying to call you."

"Looks like you were pretty busy." Patti glared a bit.

"This?" Doug asked as he had a scarf in his hands. "Oh, this is what we disguised the monster in."

"Not that again." Patti rolled her eyes.

"But it's true. See, he was like a friend to us," Doug tried to explain to her. "He was so great, I wanted to tell you more than anybody, but I couldn't I didn't want to put you in danger or get him into trouble because-"

Patti stopped listening and soon looked scared at something that came right behind Doug.

"Patti? Are you okay, Patti?" Doug asked before he turned around and saw Herman. "Herman? What are you doing?"

"Mon... Mon..." Patti stammered.

"Herman," replied Herman, before he activated his watch and changed. "Or, if you prefer, just call me Herschel."

"Whatcha doin' back, buddy?" Estelle wondered.

"I wanted to give you guys a better goodbye," Herman said to them. "It was sad enough to go without saying goodbye than having a sad goodbye altogether."

"Let's all say goodbye then," Kimberly suggested. "Everybody."

Jenny looked a bit emotional.

"Sis, tomboy or not, it's okay to be sad." Martin told his sister.

"Dammit... You're right," Jenny sighed. "I may be a tomboy, but I'm not coldhearted. Anyone got a camera?"

"I think this would do nicely," Patti said, taking Guy's camera, much to his irritation. "Everyone gather around and say... Lake Monster!"

"LAKE MONSTER!" Everyone, including Herman, exclaimed as they grinned widely.

The camera flash went off to take the picture of all of them.

"Perfect!" Zofia smiled.

"Sweet," Jenny said as she took a copy of the photograph for her group. "We'll put this in our scrapbook like LJ and Zofia's mom's she keeps in that secret room of hers."

"And... We'll keep this one for memories," LJ said as he took another copy. "Take care, Hersch."

"I'll try," Herman replied. "And you do the same."

Guy rolled his eyes. "Oh, please! All this fuss over a big stinky lizard..." he snorted. "I may throw up; we're outta here, you comin' or what?" he told Patti, grabbing her by the arm.

"Guy?" asked Patti.

"What?" replied Guy.

"_You're_ outta here." Patti retorted, pushing Guy off the dock and into the shallow water.

The others laughed a bit from that.

"I knew there was a reason why I didn't like a snob like you," Vincent said to Guy. "I don't look like this, do I, guys?"

"Maybe on a bad day when your ego gets to you when Jenny Foxworth is around." Akito smirked with Estelle.

"Wait, what?!" Vincent glared before his younger twin siblings laughed together which made him roll his eyes. "Oh, ha, ha."

LJ gave a smile at that.

"Goodbye, Herman; I hope you like your new home," Skeeter said as he hugged him. "I'll...*sniff* Miss you..."

"Wait!" Doug called, before he went and hugged Herman as well. "I'll miss you too, man."

And with that, Herman dived back into the pollutant-free lake as everyone said "see ya" to him. LJ and Kimberly held onto each other and leaned up against each other from that.

* * *

The group sat together a bit on the dock as Herman was gone and seemed to be out of their lives.

"I can't believe I let Guy fool me like that," Patti sulked. "Sorry I didn't trust you, Doug."

"Well, none of it would have ever happened if I wasn't trying so hard to impress you." Doug said softly.

"What, Doug?" Patti asked.

Doug looked too bashful to repeat himself.

"Hey! Sounds like the dance has started up again." Beebe told the others.

"What were you going to say, Doug?" Patti asked the boy who really, really liked her.

"Well... I-" Doug started until Roger came out of the woods.

"Hey... Psst, Funnie!" The school bully called. "Yoo-hoo!"

"Just a second." Doug called, before grumbling under his breath.

"Great... What does he want now?" Chrissy rolled her eyes.

"Probably someone bigger and scarier going after him and now he wants us to help him because we'd blindly do that or something," Elyse scoffed a bit. "I've seen that in other realities."

"Every time I get a chance..." Doug grumbled to himself.

"I just wanted to thank you and the guys for getting rid of my, uh, robot problem." Roger said to Doug.

"Uh... That's okay, no problem, Roger." Doug replied softly.

"Thanks, man," said Roger with a smile. "You're a-"

But before he could say "pal", Robocrusher dragged its broken, beaten body out of the woods, holding the jacket Roger wore earlier. _**"There-you-are, you-forgot-your-jacket..."**_ it droned.

Roger shrieked and ran for his life, as Robocrusher kept on coming after him.

Doug sighed, and turned to face Patti. "Maybe we could... Should check out this dance, huh?" he asked.

"Or not." Patti replied.

"Huh?" asked Doug.

"We can hear the music from here." Patti explained.

"Oh! S-S-So, you just wanna listen?" Doug asked bashfully.

"No." Patti shook her head with a small smile.

"Ohh, you mean you..." Doug stuttered as he knew what she wanted now. "Do you... Would you?"

"Sure!" Patti smiled as she decided to dance with him.

Everybody else decided to pair up with who they could as Akito used his crystal power to make illusions of Emi, Jenny Foxworth, and Lee appear for him and his siblings.

"What are you thinking about, Skeet-ski?~" Beebe smirked as she came to dance with Skeeter.

"Fractals?" Skeeter shrugged.

"Oh..." Beebe said flatly before she smiled again. "But look, everybody else is dancing, doesn't that give you any ideas?"

"Uh, no?" Skeeter shrugged.

"Skeeter Valentine, dance me!" Beebe told him as she took him to dance with her.

Skeeter shrugged and went along with it. LJ and Kimberly started to dance, with Chrissy waiting to tag in for her.

"This is sorta weird..." Jenny said as she danced with her brother.

"Because you're a tomboy and dancing for Valentine's Day?" Martin rolled his eyes at first.

"Nah, just dancing with my brother," Jenny replied. "I guess it's better than dancing alone though."

"Well... It's a start," Martin shrugged. "What's with you being so fixated on being a tomboy all of a sudden?"

"Just trying to make something for myself," Jenny replied. "I wanna look cool for some cool friends like when Mom was a kid. She was a tomboy."

"Yeah, but didn't your mother wear her hair in pigtails as a kid, wear a skirt, and had earrings?" Ambrose spoke up.

"You're not helping!" Jenny told him firmly.

"Sor-ry." Ambrose shrugged from that.

"What cool friends?" asked Martin, curious.

"Anybody," Jenny shrugged. "...Those mostly those four kids who do extreme sports all the time."

"Oh, you mean Sam, Twister, and the Rocket siblings." Martin then said.

"Yeah, they seem so cool," Jenny smiled. "I gotta be a tomboy if I wanna be friends with Reggie Rocket. There's no way she'd hang out with a prissy girly girl like when Aunt Lu was a kid."

"Hey, just cuz you're a girl doesn't mean you gotta be prissy," said Martin. "And just because you're a tomboy doesn't mean you have to be afraid to be feminine."

"But that's how the tomboys do it." Jenny replied.

"Who told you that?" Martin crossed his arms a bit.

"This self-help book." Jenny said as she took out a book of "How to be a Proper Tomboy" from someone named Jo who looked more like a boy than a girl.

"Looks like the gym teacher from that show Glee." Ambrose commented from the author's image.

"You actually believe this load of crap?" Martin retorted. "That Jo lady used to beat up on a friend of LJ and Zofia's mom! I wouldn't even use this to wipe my butt!"

"So... I shouldn't be a tomboy?" Jenny asked.

"Be a tomboy, be a girly girl, be whatever makes you happy and if Reggie Rocket doesn't like that, then you shouldn't have to be friends with her," Martin advised. "You're my sister, so I love you just the way you are."

"Aww..." The others awed from that sentiment.

"And for the record, you shouldn't take terrible advice from some stupid book." Martin added as he tore it in half.

"I guess you're right." Jenny shrugged a bit from that.

"Hey, everyone makes mistakes." Martin replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess..." Jenny said. "I still wanna be Reggie's friend though..."

"If he doesn't, nuts to her, if she does, good for you," Martin replied. "I just want you to be happy."

"Thanks, Marty." Jenny smirked a bit, though she appreciated it.

"No problem, sis," Martin said as he hugged his sister again.

"Well... Another adventure completed," LJ smiled. "One wonders what might come next for us."

"Or if I'll find that girl from my dreams." Ambrose added.

The others looked at him with a small sigh as this adventure came to a close.

* * *

After they all shared their dance, Cherry had a new book coming out which was based on this adventure about a group of kids finding a pet monster and she looked so proud of herself for her accomplishment.

"Well, this one oughta be a real best-seller," noted Lionel. "Just like your other novels."

"I do wonder though, what happens once I run out of ideas?" Cherry pondered thoughtfully.

"Well... That seems like an infinity-to-one chance, but if it does happen?" replied Lionel. "Hopefully you'll have done enough books by then and had a great run doing them."

"Yeah, fair enough," Cherry said. "Happy Valentine's Day, I guess... I was never really big on this holiday."

"Same," replied Lionel. "Happy Valentine's Day to you, too."

"Looks like the kids had a good one," Cherry said. "Especially that Elyse kid."

Elyse smiled as she bonded a bit with Doug, Skeeter, Patti, and Beebe.

Lionel nodded. "Honestly, this is the happiest I've ever seen her," he replied. "Pretty sweet, really."

Eventually, Thor appeared which nearly knocked them off balance from his weight.

"Uh, hey, Thor," Cherry said. "You here to pick up Elyse?"

"Well, that and to tell your kids about their next adventure when they have time," Thor replied. "I just hope they don't get mad at me for what it is since they had to deal with this type of insanity before."

"They have to go back to Wayside?" Lionel guessed based on that description.

"No, but, uh, you guys remember that one adventure with the other uses with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" Thor prompted. "That time Lionel had those weird visions of us, but like from a manga comic book?"

"...Yes?" Cherry and Lionel replied.

"Well, it's something like that, but it's not the TMNT, it's the Teen Titans." Thor explained.

"Yeah?" replied Lionel. "Do go on."

"Well, just think about that adventure, but with the Teen Titans," Thor said. "Ya know, like Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven..."

"Yeah, yeah, we know about those guys," Cherry replied. "Who doesn't at this day and age?"

"Right," Thor said. "I just hope your kids don't get mad at me because the modern Teen Titans are less than stellar of the Teen Titans we all knew back when we were their age."

"At best, they'll be exasperated," replied Lionel. "Who wouldn't be?"

"Yeah, I just hope they don't get mad at me when I tell them," Thor said before looking out the window. "Aww... Ellie made some new friends... I'm so happy for her."

Lionel gave a firm nod in response. "Well... I suppose you'll have to see for yourself whether they do or don't." he replied.

"Hmm... All right... I'll go talk to them..." Thor said as he came to go out the RV door, but was stuck. "Um... Oops... A little help here?" he then chuckled sheepishly.

Cherry took out the toilet plunger to splat onto Thor and shook back and forth a bit before Thor squeezed through the door.

"Thank you," Thor muffled as his face hit the ground before he spit out some pieces as he came to the group. "Hey, kids!"

* * *

The young adventure group then gathered around him.

"What's up?" asked LJ.

"Hey, kids," Thor smiled. "I'm not sure what you have planned for after this, but sometime soon, you're gonna have one of those big doozy adventures."

"What is it, Dad?" Elyse asked.

"Well, Elyse, my little cupcake," Thor began as he pinched her cheek a little with a small smile. "Do you kids remember that time you were with the other Teen Titans with that big movie?"

"The Jade Wilson Project? Sure," Zofia replied. "But why do you ask?"

"...Well... Don't hate me..." Thor bit his lip. "But you're gonna have to see them again."

"...Okay," LJ replied. "What happened now?"

"I can't tell you too much until you have to go and see them, but basically, a figure called The Master of Games is gonna snatch them away." Thor began.

"Hooray!" Elyse beamed at first before looking sheepish. "I mean, uh, that sucks."

"Subtle, Elyse," Thor rolled his eyes playfully. "But this isn't just about our Earth; it's about the many infinite Earths and realities."

"Because of _course_ it is," LJ shrugged. "I guess we could use this as training for when we meet the Next Avengers."

"You're not mad at me though, right?" Thor asked. "I know that last time with the Titans was a bit rough, but this also reminds me of that time with your parents, Atticus, Mo, and Sabrina of when we had that big Ninja Turtle adventure."

"Of _course_ we're not mad at you," LJ replied. "Stuff happens sometimes. No sense getting pissy over it."

"Ah, I'm glad you understand." Thor beamed.

"Could I meet Reggie Rocket sometime?" Jenny spoke up hopefully.

"Uh... Sure..." Thor shrugged. "Maybe someday. Is that a superhero or something?"

"She's a tomboy from a place called Ocean Shores." Martin told him.

"Oh, yeah," Thor replied. "That place that's pretty much EXTREME SPORTS Central."

"Okay, glad we got that settled." Vincent replied.

"So, I'll see you for when that time comes with the Titans," Thor said. "Deal?"

The group looked at each other before looking back to confirm their answer. "Deal."

"Great," Thor smiled. "I'll see you guys at home. I'm gonna go check on the Ed boys for ya."

"Alright, you have fun." Elyse replied.

"Have a good time, El," Thor told his daughter. "Be careful of boys you don't know."

"Great idea, Dad." Elyse rolled her eyes from that as Thor decided to leave.

And so, the group returned home to Greendale, as their adventure had wrapped up nicely by now. Ambrose still thought about his girl, but that was just another story for another day, so...

The End and have a Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
